Karachi: Sadia Baloch, aged 20, has been suspended by Punjab University for protesting the abduction of a fellow Baloch student from the university.
Sadia, a third-year law student in Punjab University, was suspended for delivering a speech on June 10 in protest of the abduction. Ironically, she received news of her suspension on Monday (August 12), just one week before her exams.
According to the university’s suspension notice dated June 11, students from Balochistan held an illegal rally on the university premises, during which Sadia delivered a speech with “objectionable and propagative words” aimed at “polluting other students’ mind against government institution using university platform [sic].”
Sadia told The Wire that she was puzzled by the accusation that she used “objectionable and propagative” words. She questioned whether asking for the release of an abducted Baloch person was truly objectionable and propagative.
She also said that while other student groups, such as the Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing, are allowed to carry guns, “a Baloch student cannot raise their voice if a fellow Baloch is abducted or profiled in educational institutes.”
Reports of the harassment and abduction of Baloch students have emerged from various areas across the country, including Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore. These students face ongoing profiling, which disrupts their studies. Baloch students have protested against these injustices.
She denounced the university’s claim regarding the ‘illegal’ rally. She stated that the students involved informed the university about the rally and had received permission for it.
Sadia asked: “If the rally was illegal, as the university claims, why was I not informed? I only came cross the notice a week before my exams.”
She suggested the state was using the rally as a pretext to punish her for participating in the recent ‘Baloch National Gathering’ and for her political activism.
Dr Mahrang Baloch, a leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, spoke to The Wire and praised Sadia as an activist who has been vocal about the issues facing the Baloch people and Baloch students in particular.
“Her suspension sends a clear message to every Baloch student, aiming to deter them from joining political activism. The state wants to use Sadia as an example,” said Mahrang.
Punjab University’s suspension order against Sadia. Photo: Sadia Baloch.
Mahrang also said that university authorities have been harassing Baloch students for a long time to prevent them from continuing their education and political activism.
“At the same university, student wings of the Jamaat-e-Islami and other political parties are allowed to do whatever they want, but Baloch students and their organisations are not allowed to raise their voice for justice,” Mahrang said.
Sadia narrated how the university’s chief security officer, Colonel Ubaid Masood, adopted a threatening tone with her, saying they could ruin her education for the next three years.
When she asked the university administration why she was not informed of the notice earlier if it was issued on June 11, she received no answer, she said.
Sadia also asked them to specify which of the university’s rules she had violated and provide her with documentation for the same, but they failed to provide any documentation to justify her suspension, she said.
The Wire contacted Punjab University’s registrar through phone calls and email for a response, but has received none so far.
She said that at the university, Baloch students were often targeted for their ethnicity or for wearing traditional Balochi dress. “One of the teachers from another university in Punjab told Baloch students who were wearing Balochi shalwar kameez that they should wear ‘civilised clothes’ thereafter.”
She did not blame teachers or students for their hateful attitudes but instead said that the system and the syllabus that had ingrained these biases against the Baloch were at fault.
Sadia recalled an experience she had in her hostel when she was asked if she Baloch carried guns. She said she invited her fellow resident to visit her room, where she showed her a shelf filled with books. “Books are our guns,” Sadia told her.
Mahrang said that Baloch students were being ‘securitised’ in hostels and that were not safe even in their rooms. Baloch students are often accused of being members of armed organisations because the state does not want them to continue their education and activism, she added.
While Sadia seemed courageous as she narrated the story of her suspension, she said her family was worried about her education. But she said her family has never asked her to retreat from political activism and that they understood the price of being a voice for their people.
No human rights organisation, or mainstream media outlet in the country or in Punjab province has spoken in support of Sadia. While rights organisations and the mainstream media are often very vocal when something happens to a Punjab-based student, in Sadia’s case, there is dead silence.
Mahrang criticised human rights organisations in the context of Baloch enforced disappearances, saying they are silent on the “Baloch genocide” and when Baloch students are harassed. They may issue a statement when such issues are highlighted, but they otherwise seldom speak about the Baloch, she added.
When asked about the agreement signed between the Baloch Yakjehti Committee and the Balochistan government after the sit-in at Gwadar, which stipulated that no participants or activists would be harassed, Mahrang said that the government has not respected its share of the agreement.
Sadia remains determined to fight for her rights at the university. “This is not the first time the state has punished us for being Baloch,” she said.
