Dec 03, 2018

Balochistan: Students Disappear in Apparently Targeted Arrests


Last Thursday or early Friday morning, 29 November 2018, several Baloch students disappeared in Quetta. According to media, the arrests were perpetuated by the security personnel of Pakistan. Trace of students was lost immediately afterwards. One of the disappeared students was Jiyand Baloch, the senior joint secretary of the Baloch Students Organisation (BSO). Between 27 and 29 November there were a series of arrests carried out as a part of a crackdown on student activism. UNPO joins the BSO in condemning the acts of violence carried out by Pakistan’s authorities.

This article was published by the Balochistan Post:

Several Baloch students have been forcibly disappeared last night from different areas of Quetta.

TBP has received multiple reports about several arrests and subsequent disappearances of Baloch students by Pakistani security personnel from capital city Quetta.

The disappeared students include a senior office holder of Baloch Students Organiastion. Jiyand Baloch, the senior joint secretary of BSO, was arrested after personnel of Pakistani secret services raided his family home in Quetta in the early hours of Friday. Jiyand is a student of Bahauddin Zakria University in Multan.

Jiyand’s younger brother Hasnain Baloch and their father Qayoom Baloch was also ‘abducted’ during the raid.

In another raid, a young student Ameen Baloch was also forcibly disappeared after security forces raided his room in Kili Ibrahim Zai Quetta. Ameen was a medical student in Quetta and hails from Awaran.

TBP has also received unconfirmed reports of several other disappearances over the last three days.

The enforced disappearances have intensified since attack on Chinese consulate in Karachi. Campaigners accuse that Baloch students are being targeted after the attack as a ‘collective punishment’ tactic.

Since the attack several students have been disappeared from different parts of Balochistan and Karachi.

BSO has strongly condemned the arrests in a statement released a while ago.

It said that the arrest of Jiyand Baloch, his younger brother and their father is worst form of human rights violations against the constitution of the country. “BSO is a peaceful organisation that is striving to promote educational activities amongst the Baloch society,” the statement read.

BSO said that the recent arrests are an attempt to deteriorate the law and order situation in Balochistan

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia