Protests rise against students abduction by Pak forces

The abductees were identified as Sohail Ahmed son of Lal Muhammad and Fasih Baloch. Both are said to be residents of the Noshki district of Balochistan…reports Asian Lite News

Balochistan University witnessed continued protests for the second day over the abduction of two students by Pakistani forces on Thursday.

Student leaders have called for a boycott of classes and exams in all educational institutions, Urdu newspaper Express Daily reported.

The abductees were identified as Sohail Ahmed son of Lal Muhammad and Fasih Baloch. Both are said to be residents of the Noshki district of Balochistan, the publication said.

Pakistani forces forcibly disappeared both the students from the university hostel on Monday, reported The Balochistan Post.

“The student leaders said the two students disappeared from the university hostel. We protested with the administration but it did not take any notice. Then we were forced to sit on dharna in front of the gate of the Balochistan University,” a student leader said.

There is a long history of disappearances in Balochistan.

While thousands of Balochs have been abducted and disappeared since its illegal occupation, hundreds of others have been eliminated in the line of Pakistan’s “kill and dump” policy. Thousands still remain unaccounted for.

Due to the silence and numbness of the civilized world and Human rights organizations and lack of the media or other means in Balochistan, this issue has been suppressed until this day.

Enforced Disappearance has been used as a tool by the Pakistani state to silence the oppressed people of Balochistan since the very first day of its occupation.

While countless Abductees have been killed, many of them are still facing inhuman torture in army secret cells. (ANI)

Baloch leader calls for unity

Accusing the “outsiders” of repressing the people of Balochistan, local political leader Mir Israr Ullah Khan Zehri called for unity among the Baloch community to end the “injustice and deprivation of people”.

For the last 15 years the outsiders have taken away the rights of the local people and the doors of politics are closed for the Baloch political workers, Pakistan’s Urdu Newspaper Express Daily reported.

Addressing a senior body meeting in Khuzdar, leader of the Balochistan National Party (Awami) Mir Israr Ullah Khan Zehri said that our workers are facing extreme difficulties but we have not changed our stand.

The confidence of people in our party is increasing day by day and we are sure that one day we will get our target, Express Daily reported.

Balochistan is a resource-rich but least developed province of Pakistan where a movement for freedom has been ongoing for the past several decades. Many Balochs believe that the region was independent before 1947 and was forcibly occupied by Pakistan.

While successive governments have promised to criminalise enforced disappearance, none has taken concrete steps and the practice continues with impunity.

Recently, fighting between the Pakistan security forces and Baloch insurgents have intensified in the region.

In its 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights, the US State Department has highlighted significant human rights issues in Pakistan, including unlawful or arbitrary killings by the government and forced disappearance of Pashtun, Sindhi and Baloch human rights activists. (ANI)

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