Quetta, April 22 As enforced disappearances of civilians continue unabated across Balochistan, students of Bolan Medical College in the provincial capital, Quetta, staged a sit-in protest on Wednesday outside the college premises, demanding the immediate and safe recovery of a female student forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces.
According to the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), Khadija Baloch was abducted on Tuesday by Pakistani security forces from the BMC female hostel in Quetta and shifted to an undisclosed location.
Since her enforced disappearance, it said, no information about her whereabouts or condition has been provided to her family and fellow students.
“This protest is a call to end enforced disappearances and hold the state accountable for its systematic human rights violations in Balochistan and to ensure the immediate and safe release of Khadija Baloch,” the BYC stated.
Asserting that this was not an isolated incident, the rights body said, “The Pakistani state has long used enforced disappearance as a weapon of collective punishment against Baloch families, targetting students, wives, daughters, and the bereaved. Khadija, the widow, has now been made a victim by the same machinery of state violence.”
The BYC urged the people of Balochistan to stand united against the oppression by Pakistani authorities.
Condemning the incident, the Baloch Women Forum (BWF) said that the abduction of Khadija from within an educational institution represents a “blatant violation of human rights" and exposes an increasingly dangerous reality in which even educational spaces are no longer safe for students, particularly women.
“This incident highlights an increasingly alarming reality in which educational institutions are no longer secure for Baloch women. The abduction of a female student from within hostel premises is not an isolated concern; rather, it reflects a broader environment of fear, insecurity and vulnerability faced by Baloch female students across academic spaces," the BWF stated.
Expressing solidarity with the ongoing protests of the students, the forum warned that “any continued silence, delay or inaction will further intensify public outrage and raise serious questions regarding compliance with human rights obligations, due process and the rule of law.”
The BWF called upon international human rights organisations as well as global institutions to urgently take notice of this case, break their silence and press for justice, accountability and the protection of Baloch female students.
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