Mengal Convenes Meeting Of Commission To Investigate Grievances Of Baloch Students

The 4th meeting of the Commission, constituted in light of the Islamabad High Court orders to investigate the resentments of Baloch students, was held here at the Parliament House on Friday with Member of the National Assembly, Sardar Akhtar Mengal in the chair

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Oct, 2022 ) :The 4th meeting of the Commission, constituted in light of the Islamabad High Court orders to investigate the resentments of Baloch students, was held here at the Parliament House on Friday with Member of the National Assembly, Sardar Akhtar Mengal in the chair.

Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed and ex-senator Afrasiab Khattak participated in the meeting while the Special Secretary Ministry of Interior, Secretary Ministry of Human Rights, Secretary Ministry of Defence, and Additional Secretary Ministry of Defence were also in attendance. Prof Dr Asma Faiz, Former Chief Secretary Balochistan, Nasir Mehmood Khosa participated virtually in the meeting, said a press release.

The meeting discussed at length; the harassment, enforced disappearances and racial profiling of Baloch students at Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) and other educational institutions in Pakistan.

At the outset, the Secretary Ministry of Defence briefed the commission (in-camera) on the issue of missing Baloch students. The members exchanged candid views and asked various questions which were responded in detail.

Subsequently, the faculty members of QAU briefed the commission on the incident of the missing Baloch student, and racial profiling of students at the university. They committed for addressing the issues of Baloch students in light of the directions of this commission and assured that several measures were afoot so that such incidents would never happen again.

The faculty members remarked that steps were also being taken for the redressal of the complaints of Baloch students and that the accommodation facility would be further increased to facilitate students (male/female) from far-flung areas including Balochistan.

Regarding the matter of non-provision of resting space for Baloch female students who appeared for the entry test at the QAU, the Pro Vost female hostel remarked that being a professor and a Pro Vost for the last four months she never tolerated such discrimination and racial profiling of students.

She apprised that without merit, hundred per cent of Baloch female students were accommodated in the campus hostel as a special case.

The faculty members reiterated that Baloch students were the most organized and well-mannered students of the university and show extraordinary performance in co-curricular activities. Besides a dedicated mobile number a helpline had also been established for the redressal of the complaints of Baloch students, they added.

They apprised the commission that as per the recommendation of the Senate Committee and Higher education Commission regarding the racial profiling and harassment of Baloch students at QAU, no interaction of any external individual with students was allowed on the campus without formal approval of the competent authority.

Special Secretary Ministry of Interior gave a detailed briefing regarding data of the missing persons collected from different sources including the commission on the inquiry of forced disappearances, the Missing Person Cell, and a parliamentary commission on missing persons and Defence Human Rights.

He said the ministry was co-relating the data of the missing persons and had requested all the concerned to submit data in a specified format to avoid duplicity.

The commission expressed dissatisfaction over the report of the "Commission on inquiry of forced disappearances", headed by Justice (r) Javed Iqbal.

After a detailed discussion on the subject, the commission sought briefing on ethnic profiling and enforced disappearances of students belonging to the province of Balochistan and steps taken by the provincial government to address the issue.

It was also decided to invite Vice Chancellor, University of Balochistan for a briefing on the issue pertaining to disappearance of two students of the university in November 2021.