Pakistan: Curriculum books found discarded as waste in Balochistan

Quetta, April 30 A Baloch student organisation on Thursday expressed grave concern over a large number of curriculum books found discarded as waste in Balochistan’s Gwadar district.

Sharing a video on social media platform X, which showed piles of curriculum books of the Balochistan Textbooks Board lying in garbage, the Baloch Students Action Committee (BSAC) said that these books were printed and distributed in Gwadar for the 2024-25 academic year.

However, the group stated that the books were later found discarded at the office of the District Education Officer (DEO) in Gwadar.

“All claims of an educational emergency appear to be rhetoric rather than the truth and reality. The public has been led into a fallacy instead of being shown the actuality," the BSAC stated.

"This incident is not only about books being found in the trash; it is a testament to the fact that the education system has fundamentally failed to uphold the quality of education. This is not an isolated case, however, there are likely hundreds of such cases to be investigated. Though people reveal only very few cases and details in this regard,” it added.

Under the Baloch Literary Campaign (BLC), the student body urged the concerned higher authorities to immediately take notice of what it described as “gross incompetency" while ensuring a transparent investigation into the matter.

Meanwhile, a leading human rights organisation on Thursday brought to light the enforced disappearances of another two Baloch individuals by Pakistani forces in Balochistan and Punjab province.

Paank, the Baloch National Movement's Human Rights Department, mentioned that 26-year-old singer Razaq Baloch was forcibly disappeared by personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC) on April 27 from Mill Colony, an area in the provincial capital, Quetta. Since then, it said, his whereabouts remain unknown, raising serious concerns about his safety and well-being.

The rights body also strongly condemned the enforced disappearance of 45-year-old Dost Muhammad, a retired member of the Pakistan Army, who was working as a security guard at the Fauji Cement Factory located in Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab.

He was reportedly taken into custody on April 23 from the premises of Fauji Cement Factory by personnel of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and shifted to an undisclosed location.

Balochistan continues to reel under relentless atrocities by the Pakistani forces, marked by enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of Baloch civilians at an unprecedented level.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor