In a press release issued on Thursday, Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission expressed concern over reports of a fresh wave of “enforced disappearances” in Balochistan.
Abdul Hafeez Baloch, a postgraduate student at Quaid e-Azam University in Islamabad, went missing “the most recent case,” according to a report in the local media.
For a few days, the hashtag #ReleaseHafeezBaloch was the top trending topic on Twitter, with students and activists calling for the safe return of the missing person.
A rally converted into a sit-in Camp at Quaid-i-Azam Univeristy, Islamabad for the safe recovery of Hafeez Baloch. We are setting till the #ReleaseHafeezBaloch.#EndEnforcedDisappearances pic.twitter.com/r9bpSzPeto
— Zahu Baloch (@BalochZahu) February 16, 2022
In Islamabad, the Baloch students’ council is holding a three-day sit-in protest for the safe release of Hafeez, although they have yet to get any information about his whereabouts.
Asking to #EndEnforcedDisappearances caused extrajudicial disappearance of this postgraduate student – #HafeezBaloch, from Balochistan.
— Gazzain Baloch (@gazzibaloch1) February 14, 2022
#ReleaseHafeezBaloch
Is it a crime to speak for human rights?@amnestysasia @amnesty @UNHumanRights @UN_HRC @HRCP87 @BALOCHHRC pic.twitter.com/5UdNiiIwqz
This is what the HRCP wrote in their press release: “Mr. Baloch was allegedly abducted while working at a local school in Khuzdar. Reports allege they seized him in front of his students. The sheer audacity of this behaviour shows the growing impunity for crooks. The people involved for Mr. Baloch’s disappearance must be apprehended and brought to justice.”
According to the Human Rights Commission, the federal government’s “prior commitment to criminalise enforced disappearances continues to ring hollow.”
Two students at Balochistan Institution are said to have gone missing in November, but a protracted sit-in by students at the university was met with only vague promises that they would be found.
An important concern raised by the HRCP in their statement was the “continuing shroud of secrecy about enforced disappearances that remains purposefully kept off from mainstream media.”
According to a statement, “the state must recognise that it cannot expect to address the true predicaments of the Baloch people if it is not ready to let these complaints into the light.”
The Baloch Student Council staged a protest outside Islamabad Press Club on February 13 in protest of Abdul Hafeez’s forced abduction and the killings of other Balochi young men.
Eventually, the rally to ensure Hafeez’s safe return turned into a sit-in on the campus of Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad. The statement on Twitter added, “We are awaiting the #ReleaseHafeezBaloch [Hafeez Baloch’s release].”
Samaa reports that Abdul Hafeez Baloch, the only Khuzdar Mphil student, went missing on February 8 from a private university in Balochistan’s Khuzdar province. He is a native of Baghbana Bajoi, a hamlet in the district of Baghbana Bajoi.
His family reported him missing to the Khuzdar police station. Interviews began outside of the school where Abdul Hafeez lectured.
Since its initiation, the Commission on Enforced Disappearances (CIED) has been investigating incidents involving the disappearance of individuals.
Several missing journalists and bloggers, including Mudassar Naru, were discussed before the Islamabad High Court for a hearing on a case involving several of them. For Naru, Sachal, his four-year-old son, as well as Sachal’s grandmother, both came to court hearings.
The panel must submit its conclusions to the court before the next hearing, in this case, the court said. To ensure the panel had enough time to fully investigate the cases of missing persons, a judge required them to report their findings. Those involved in violent snatching, according to IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, cannot do so on their own without the government’s approval.
Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal leads the commission in his capacity as chair of the National Accountability Bureau.
It was reported by The News that the commission issued its November progress report in December 2021 and said that it had disposed of 6,047 cases in November.
According to the findings, the panel received 8,279 reports of suspected forcible disappearances between March 2011 and November 30th, 2021.
Works at The Truth International Magazine. My area of interest includes international relations, peace & conflict studies, qualitative & quantitative research in social sciences, and world politics. Reach@ [email protected]
