KARACHI: The banned Baloch Students Organisation-Azad staged a rally on Sunday in protest over the killing of its leader, Dr Manan Baloch, in an alleged shootout with security personnel in Balochistan.

Starting from the Arts Council, the participants in the rally congregated outside the Karachi Press Club where they spoke against the ongoing operations in southern Balochistan.

Besides activists of the BSO-Azad, members of defunct left-wing student organisations based in Karachi were also present.

They alleged that security agencies were specifically targeting political leaders and thinkers in the province and requested the human rights organisations to look into what they called “persistent killing of intellectuals” in the province.

Dr Manan was one of the founding members of two proscribed movements — Baloch National Movement (BNM), and head of the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF). He was killed with four others during a military operation in Mastung’s Killi Datu area on Jan 30.

The news of the operation and death of the suspects belonging to the proscribed outfits came from the Balochistan home department. During a press conference held in Quetta, Home Minister Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti claimed that the suspects were killed during a shootout with the forces — the groups, however, denied it.

The minister also said that Dr Manan was involved in the planning and execution of attacks on paramilitary forces working in southern Balochistan.

Dr Manan was also critical of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as, according to the students, he saw it as a “way of taking over the land and resources of the province”. Since its inception, the Baloch nationalist and separatist groups have spoken against the CPEC, a portion of which was recently inaugurated from Gwadar to Hoshab by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The head of the Karachi zone of BSO-Azad, Mehlab Baloch, said the “killing of leaders such as Dr Manan is an indicator that the forces want to clear the path for the China-backed economic corridor in Balochistan”.

Since Dr Manan’s death, the BSO-Azad activists have been protesting against what they called the targeted killing of their leader.

Due to the operation in Awaran, which began in July last year, most of the student groups have been in hiding whereas many others have sought asylum abroad. Their press conferences are usually held by women in veils who make a huge part of the student organisation. The Sunday rally was also headed mostly by women who had covered their faces.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2016