The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday directed Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed to meet Baloch students, who were protesting against "enforced disappearances" and harassment in Islamabad and Punjab universities, so he can listen to their grievances.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah issued the order in a petition filed by lawyer and human rights activist Imaan Zainab Mazari. She approached the high court when the Islamabad police registered a sedition case against the lawyer and Baloch students who were protesting against "enforced disappearances" in front of the National Press Club in Islamabad.

Justice Minallah strictly ordered the deputy attorney general to arrange a meeting between the interior minister and the Baloch students tomorrow (March 31) and submit the report in the court on Friday. If Rashid failed to meet the protesting students, the interior minister will be ordered to appear before the court, he said.

The IHC chief justice added that the interior minister would be directly responsible if the Baloch students were being harassed.

He was also irked by the officials neglecting the students, who have now been protesting outside the National Press Club for nearly a month. Justice Minallah said the federal government was unconcerned with the weeks-long protest of the students in the federal capital.

Why did the students from Balochistan feel that they were being profiled? he inquired.

The state should especially sympathise with people from vulnerable areas and should take care of them, the CJ remarked.

Quaid-e-Azam University student, Muhammad Abdullah, who also represents the Baloch students, told the court that they were being continuously harassed long before Abdul Hafeez disappeared.

"A person named Major Murtaza visited Quaid-e-Azam University regularly and met Hafeez, who later received a call from Khuzdar to meet Murtaza," the student told the court.

"Major Murtaza takes pictures of Baloch students and sends them WhatsApp messages," he said, adding the harassment continued despite the protest of students outside the National Press Club for nearly a month.

The student also informed the court that people would come to the hostel at inappropriate times and harass Baloch students.

Meanwhile, no government representative except Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari visited the Baloch students in the protesting camp outside the press club in Islamabad, he added.

Abdullah told the court that he was in the final semester and working on his research for which he had to visit the supervisor. However, he felt "terrified" whenever the supervisor asked to meet him. It was difficult for Baloch students to save their lives and study simultaneously, he added.

The court asked that a report of the meeting between the interior minister and Baloch students is submitted during the next hearing and adjourned the case till Friday.

Abdul Hafeez, who is the only student from his district undertaking an MPhil from Quaid-e-Azam University, went missing from a private academy in Khuzdar on February 8, reported Samaa. He belongs to the Baghbana Bajoi village of the district.

Baloch students have been protesting outside Islamabad's National Press Club for nearly a month against Abdul Hafeez's disappearance and the harassment of Baloch students in the federal capital and Punjab's universities.

At the beginning of March, Haji Hassan travelled from Khuzdar to Islamabad to find his son and joined the protest camp outside the press club.

A large number of cases were pending before the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances.

A case related to missing bloggers and journalists is ongoing at the Islamabad High Court where Mudassar Naru, missing since 2018, is being discussed. His four-year-old son Sachal regularly appeared before the IHC along with his grandmother to attend hearings, as his mother also suddenly passed away. During the recent hearing, the high court ordered the commission to submit a report before the next court date.

Earlier, the court had granted time to the commission so they can conduct a thorough investigation into the missing person cases, and also asked the commission to present its final arguments.

Besides, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah had remarked that persons involved in enforced disappearances could not do it on their own without the consent of the federal government.

The commission is headed by Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, who is also chairperson of the National Accountability Bureau.

In December 2021, the commission issued its progress report for November and claimed that it had disposed of 6,047 cases, reported The News.

The commission received 8,279 cases of alleged enforced disappearance from March 2011 to November 30, 2021, across the country, read the report.