ISLAMABAD: The Islam­abad High Court (IHC) has formed a commission headed by Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani to address the grievances of Baloch students.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah took the decision on Thursday during the hearing of a petition filed by rights activist and lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir against harassment of Baloch students, who were protesting in Islamabad last month over the disappearance of their missing colleague, Hafiz Baloch.

The court noted that the matter had been pending since February, but the response of the public functionaries had been disturbingly indifferent.

In the previous hearing, Justice Minallah asked President Arif Alvi to dispel the impression of ethnic profiling of the Baloch students.

In Thursday’s hearing, Ms Mazari-Hazir told the court the president had given assurances to the students. However, Bebgar Imdad, a student at the National University of Modern Languages in Islamabad, was picked up from Punjab University yesterday, she said. Another student, Dr Dildar Baloch, was picked up from Karachi, she added.

According to the petition, the students assert that law enforcement agencies across the country are subjecting them to enforced disappearances and racial profiling.

Racial profiling refers to the practice of suspecting, targeting or discriminating against a person because of their ethnicity or religion instead of individual suspicion.

Justice Minallah noted that the report submitted on behalf of the Quaid-i-Azam University apparently showed that the grievances were not baseless.

The court noted that it was intolerable for any citizen to have reasonable ground to believe that he or she might be subjected to racial discrimination, which was one of the worst forms of human rights violations and couldn’t be tolerated in a society governed under the Constitution.

It appeared to the court on the basis of what had been observed during these proceedings that the grievances regarding racial discrimination, enforced disappearances and lack of response by state functionaries are not unfounded, Justice Minallah observed.

Subsequently, the court constituted a commission to inquire and investigate these grievances of students belonging to Balochistan.

As per the court order, the commission will comprise Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, former senator Afrasiab Khattak, PTI’s central secretary general Asad Umar, Senator Raza Rabbani, Senator Kamran Murtaza, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Balochistan’s former chief secretary Nasir Khosa, Pakistan Bar Council vice chairman Ali Ahmed Kurd, and the secretaries of interior and human rights ministries.

“The commission shall enquire and investigate into the grievances of students belonging to the province of Balochistan regarding racial profiling, enforced disappearances and lack of security while visiting their hometowns. The commission shall thereafter formulate recommendations and submit its report before the court,” the court order said.

The court directed the human rights secretary to coordinate with the commission’s members and submit a report on or before the fixed date.

It also directed the interior secretary to set up a mechanism to receive complaints from students belonging to Balochistan and ensure that they do not fear visiting their hometowns.

The next hearing is set for May 13.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2022