Academic activities at Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) in Islamabad remained suspended on Wednesday as Baloch students continued their sit-in for a third consecutive day, demanding the recovery of missing student Saeed Baloch.
The protest, led by the Baloch Students Council (BSC), has effectively paralysed the campus, prompting the administration to halt classes amid concerns that the demonstrations could grow if students from other councils join in.
According to the BSC, Saeed, a sixth-semester student of the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies (DSS), was forcibly taken on 8 July. Students say he was travelling on a public transport bus to Quetta when “unknown men in civilian clothes, accompanied by law enforcement personnel” stopped the vehicle near the Islamabad Toll Plaza between 7:00 and 7:30 p.m. and allegedly offloaded him.
BSC representatives held a press conference earlier this week accusing the university administration and state institutions of indifference and inaction. They said a previous protest camp held from 29 September to 5 October was ended after the administration assured students that legal assistance would be provided, but no progress followed.
The council said Baloch students had faced profiling, harassment and raids in several institutions in Islamabad and Punjab, including Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Sargodha University, NUML and Islamia University Bahawalpur. It said the incidents were affecting students’ education and careers.
The BSC has demanded a transparent investigation into Saeed’s disappearance, direct dialogue with students, assistance in identifying those responsible and written assurances that Baloch students will not face harassment. It also called on QAU to ensure a designated representative appears before the Islamabad High Court on 1 December to present the university’s position.
Students warned they would escalate the protest if their demands were not met, saying a full academic boycott or closure of the campus was under consideration.
“If the administration does not take responsibility, it will be they who push the university towards a complete shutdown,” the council said.
The QAU administration has not issued a formal statement. A senior university official, quoted by local media, said the administration had approached the protestors and offered support, but the students refused to end the sit-in.
According to the official, the students insisted that the administration was “not in a position to help” and maintained that their camp was “not a political activity” but a demand for the recovery of a missing university student.