Commission formed to address Baloch students’ grievances
Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Thursday ordered the constitution of a commission to inquire into and address the grievances of Baloch students.
The decision came during a hearing into a petition filed by rights advocate Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir regarding the enforced disappearances and racial profiling of Baloch students.
Following the disappearance of Quaid-e-Azam University student Hafeez Baloch from his hometown Khuzdar in February this year, Baloch students moved the courts against discrimination, intimidate, harassment and disruption to their studies by law enforcement agencies.
In Thursday’s hearing, Mazari-Hazir informed the court that despite assurances from President Arif Alvi, Baloch students continue to suffer, pointing to the April 27 abduction of Bebgar Imdad, a student of the National University of Modern Languages Islamabad (NUML) from Lahore, and Dr. Dildar Baloch, a student of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) from Karachi.
The court held that the grievances of Baloch students regarding racial discrimination, enforced disappearances and lack of response by state functionaries are not unfounded, and ordered the formation of the Commission for redress.
The Commission will comprise Chairman of the Senate Sadiq Sanjrani, former senator Afrasiab Khattak, Central Secretary-General of the PTI Asad Umar, Senator Raza Rabbani, Senator Kamran Murtaza, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Balochistan’s former chief secretary Nasir Khosa, former Vice-Chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council Ali Ahmed Kurd, and the secretaries of interior and human rights ministries.
Newborn abducted from private hospital in Karachi found dead
The body of a newborn boy abducted from a private hospital within the limits of the Gulberg Police on April 17 was recovered from a graveyard in Brohi Goth, police stated on Thursday.
Per the statement of the victim’s mother, two women, one of whom was wearing a doctor’s coat, informed her that her baby was running a fever and took him to the children’s ward of the hospital. However, her husband was unable to find their child, and upon inquiring from the hospital’s management was told that no such baby was shifted to the ward.
During the investigation, police detained three female suspects for questioning, one of whom confessed to abducting the child. Reportedly, the accused wanted a male child and, with the help of other suspects, kidnapped the baby.
However, she changed her mind and went to the Gulberg police station to surrender the newborn, but reneged when the issue came to light in media. She then put the baby in a bag and passed it off to a random man on the street.
Police managed to trace the man, identified as Bilal, who is an addict. He told police that a woman in a rickshaw gave him the bag along with Rs. 1,000. He took the bag, assuming there would be food inside but instead found the body of a dead infant. He then took it to a graveyard in Brohi Goth and buried it there.
Police state that Bilal has identified the accused woman in custody.
12 policemen suspended for highhandedness
12 police officials in Taxila were suspended from duty on Thursday for abducting and illegally detaining people, as well as extorting money from them. The suspended personnel include three Assistant Sub-Inspectors (ASI).
An inquiry team, constituted following a public protest organized by residents of Wah and adjacent areas on G. T. Road, found the officials guilty of police excess. The suspended personnel were subsequently transferred to District Police Lines.
