Pakistan: Peshawar University is still hosting protests over student disappearances
Pakistan: Local media reported on Thursday that demonstrations over the abduction of two students were still being held at the University of Peshawar by a number of student organizations.
The Waziristan Students’ Society led the demonstrators, who visited several university departments and urged students to skip classes. According to Pakistan’s top newspaper Dawn, they also forced the closure of the campus’s eateries, coffee shop, and Madina Market.
They want Khubaib Wazir, a third-semester student in the International Relations Department, and Adnan Wazir, a fifth-semester student in the Political Science Department, to get well right away. The student body claims that on November 12, while returning to the school after their participation in the Grand Jirga organized by the province government at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, two students were abducted by unknown individuals.
In the midst of a growing wave of enforced disappearances across the region, a prominent human rights organization reported on December 12 that Pakistani troops had forcefully removed a Baloch student in Balochistan.
According to Paank, the Human Rights Department of the Baloch National Movement, on December 7, Pakistan’s Counter Terrorism Department forcefully removed Noor Bakhsh, a student and inhabitant of Killi Qambrani, Saryab region in the provincial capital Quetta, from his house.
At least three Baloch civilians, including two students, were forced to vanish by CTD from the same area in Quetta, the rights group said, highlighting crimes in Balochistan.
Paank claimed that the CTD kidnapped student Aftab Baloch on December 6. Furthermore, the CTD forcefully removed laborer Ali Dost Qambrani and another student Ibrar Qambrani from their houses on December 7.
The forced abduction of professor Balach Khan Bali by Pakistani troops in Balochistan was denounced on December 4 by a number of prominent human rights organizations and campaigners.
Balach Khan Bali, 36, was kidnapped by Pakistan Army forces on December 3 from Salala Bazar in Turbat city, Kech district, when he was returning home from the main market, according to Paank, the Human Rights Department of the Baloch National Movement, which cited local sources.
Balach is well-known for his professionalism, devotion to his pupils, and support of higher education in the area. He teaches computer science at the University of Turbat. His family, coworkers, and the academic community are all quite distressed by his absence,” Paank said.
Baloch Voice for Justice (BVJ), which condemned the occurrence, said it was part of a larger trend of enforced disappearances in Balochistan.
The rights body demanded transparency, pressed for Balach’s immediate release, and asked human rights organizations to examine his case. The need of conducting reliable inquiries into the activities of Pakistani security forces in Balochistan was also emphasized.