Two KU students among three picked up from their houses by ‘masked men’

Early on Thursday morning three Baloch students of the University of Karachi were allegedly picked up by masked men from their houses in Madho Goth, located along University Road.

Twenty-six-year-old Mumtaz Ahmed is a final-year student at the Department of International Relations, 27-year-old Saifullah is pursuing an MPhil at the Department of Agriculture and 17-year-old Kamran Sajidi recently applied for admission at the university.

While Mumtaz Ahmed and Kamran Sajidi are brothers, it is believed that they do not know Saifullah. Their families and KU officials claimed that the students had no ties with any banned organisation.

The only common thing between the three is that they hail from Balochistan’s conflict-hit areas. Mumtaz and Kamran’s elder brother Muhammad Naeem said the two students were not involved in any illegal activity, let alone some anti-state movement.

He asserted that his brothers had no links to any banned Baloch outfit. Recounting the pre-dawn incident, Naeem said they heard a knock on the door at 4am. On answering the door, he found some 10 to 12 masked men standing outside. “Four vehicles were parked outside our house. Two of them were police mobiles, but I was told not to notice them.”

He said the men asked for his brothers and also insisted on entering the house, but he did not permit them to step inside. However, he added, after checking all of their national identity cards, they took Mumtaz and Kamran away.

The elder brother said Kamran had moved to Karachi last year for further studies and applied for admission in KU this year. “He was waiting to join the university but, unfortunately, he was abducted by unidentified people.”

He said that Mumtaz was part of a research project on the lifestyle of the Baloch people, and that the project was initiated by a local media outlet in Khuzdar. Mumtaz had visited Khuzdar twice to work on his assignments relating to the project and his next visit was scheduled for January 6, he added.

“My brother was not the only person working on the research project.” As for Saifullah, he was living with his relatives in the same locality as Mumtaz and Kamran’s. He recently passed the Balochistan Public Service Commission examination to qualify as an agriculture officer. His interview was scheduled for January 22.

Yaseen Baloch, who is one of his close friends, told The News that Saifullah was a very intelligent student and always refused to attend social gatherings because of his studying habits. Moreover, KU Students’ Adviser Dr Syed Asim Ali said the university’s students had no ties with banned organisations. “We have already rejected the propaganda of KU students’ involvement in anti-state activities.”

He condemned the “forced abduction” of KU students. “We shall not tolerate illegal raids by unidentified people at KU.” He, however, denied that such an incident had occurred at the university and refused to comment further on the issue.

Meanwhile, a police official deployed on duty at KU told The News that he had received a list from the intelligence agencies that named all the Baloch students involved in anti-state movements. He claimed that law enforcement and security agencies were cracking down on them.  

Baloch students wary of KU

“Baloch students are reluctant to get admission in KU,” said Associate Professor Dr Riaz Ahmed. He said that each department at the university had two seats reserved for Baloch students, but not all of the seats could be filled by this year because Baloch students were wary of KU.

He claimed that the reason for their reluctance could be the “illegal raids of the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) against Baloch students”. He said that four months ago KU’s vice-chancellor and senior faculty members had clearly expressed that there was no space for terrorist activities at the university. “It is beyond our understanding that if Baloch students are not found to be involved in anti-state activities, then why are the LEAs conducting raids against them?”  

Other recent incidents

On November 20 last year Sagheer Ahmed, who is a student of political science at KU, was picked up by unidentified people from the university. Five days before that two KU students, identified as Naseer Baloch and his friend Hissam, were allegedly arrested from the Safoora Goth locality near the university.

That same evening five Baloch students, including Sanaullah Ismael Baloch, was also allegedly arrested from the same locality. They all belong to various conflict-hit areas of Balochistan, including Kech, Buleda, Khuzdar and Awaran.