QUETTA, BALOCHISTAN: In a statement issued by its spokesperson, the Baloch Students Organisation (BSO) said that the forced abduction of student leader Ammar Baloch by security forces from Lahore around 12:30 am last night and his transfer to an undisclosed location, is condemnable.
The organisation demanded his safe recovery, stating that it believes the abduction-style arrests of student political leaders are not merely the arrest of an individual, but a continuation of state policy aimed at crushing political activity through force. It said that subjecting a student leader to enforced disappearance is clear evidence that the ruling class lacks the capacity to face political and intellectual dissent, and instead seeks to impose its decisions purely through coercion.
The spokesperson said that Ammar Baloch’s disappearance is part of policies it described as anti-people, which it said have made every corner of the country politically unsafe. It said that today, across the country, all forms of democratic and peaceful political activity are being criminalised under the pretext of countering insurgency.
The state, it said, has created conditions in which political workers are pushed outside the constitutional framework and into the category of missing persons, which it said completely negates the claims of any civilised society.
The statement said that the entire world and the region are currently facing severe political and economic crises. It argued that states which avoid resolving collective rights and political issues amid changing circumstances inevitably resort to coercion and force. It said that on one hand, facts are being suppressed across the country, particularly in the peripheries, through undeclared media censorship, while on the other, the imposition of a one-sided narrative has made it difficult for the public to access facts.
The spokesperson further said that Ammar Baloch is a peaceful and pro-democracy student political leader and that his enforced disappearance is a direct attack on democracy and the political rights of students.
The organisation appealed strongly to all progressive political parties, human rights institutions, student organisations, lawyers, and the journalist community to raise their voice for his safe and immediate recovery and to take a principled stand against what it called this undemocratic coercion.
