March 11th, 2022
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
The Islamabad High Court on Friday issued notices to the secretaries of defence and interior, the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, and the Quaid-e-Azam University over a petition for recovery of missing student Hafeez Student.
Chief Justice Athar Minallah issued the notices while hearing a petition by Baloch’s father for the recovery of his son, missing from his hometown Khuzdar since February 8. Baloch was a post-graduate student in physics at the Quaid-e-Azam University. According to his family, Baloch had returned to his hometown from Islamabad to meet his mother when he went missing from an academy where he was teaching physics to local children.
Imaan Mazari, the petitioner’s counsel, told the court that Baloch was a student of the Quaid-e-Azam University who was subjected to racial profiling there, adding that he went missing from Khuzadar. In the petition, Baloch’s father sought a court direction for the early recovery of his son.
The father also sought action against those responsible for keeping his son in illegal detention. The petitioner pleaded that the Quaid-e-Azam University hold an investigation into racial profiling and submit a report to the court in this regard.
Besides, the petitioner also requested the court to seek a report from the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances over the current status of cases of enforced disappearances.
The Islamabad-based Baloch students have set up a protest camp outside the National Press Club over Baloch’s forced disappearance. The Islamabad High Court had barred Islamabad Police from arresting any person who has been nominated in the first information report (FIR) registered against the protesting Baloch students.
