KARACHI: Lateef Johar, a student leader of Baloch Students Organisation-Azad (BSO-A) late on Friday ended his 46-day long hunger strike staged outside the Karachi Press Club in protest against enforced disappearance of his party chairman Zahid Baloch upon assurances given by an NGO.

Lateef Johar went on hunger strike on April 22 to protest against the alleged kidnapping of BSO-A chairman Zahid Baloch from Quetta’s Satellite Town in March. The student body alleges that intelligence agencies are behind the abduction. Johar, according to his doctor, had lost more 30 kilograms in the past few weeks.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) had appealed Johar to end his protest and assured him that the group would raise the issue at the United Nations’s International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP).


Also read: CM Malik fails to make student end hunger strike, pledges FIR


Speaking at a press conference, Navid Baseer and other AHRC officials assured the BSO-A office bearer that they will make all possible efforts for the safe recovery of Zahid Baloch.

Ayub Qureshi, Mama Qadir, Asad Iqbal Butt, Zulfiqar Shah, Mir Muhammad Ali Talpur and Bushra Khaliq were also present on the occasion.


Related: For Pakistan’s Baloch, ‘tomorrow, anything can happen’


The party will announce its further course of action in a press conference soon, said a press release issued by BSO-A senior vice chairperson Karima Baloch.

Opinion

Editorial

Immunity gap
Updated 26 Apr, 2026

Immunity gap

Pakistan’s Big Catch-Up campaign showed progress but also exposed the scale of gaps in routine immunisation.
Danger on repeat
26 Apr, 2026

Danger on repeat

DISASTERS have typically been framed as acts of nature. Of late, they look increasingly like tests of preparedness...
Loose lips
26 Apr, 2026

Loose lips

PAKISTANIS have by now gained something of an international reputation for their gallows humour, but it seems that...
Lebanon truce
Updated 25 Apr, 2026

Lebanon truce

THE fact that the truce between Israel and Lebanon has been extended for three weeks should be welcomed. But there...
Terrorism again
25 Apr, 2026

Terrorism again

THE elimination of 22 terrorists in an intelligence-based operation in Khyber highlights both the scale and ...
Taxing technology
25 Apr, 2026

Taxing technology

THE recent decision by the FBR’s Directorate General of Customs Valuation to increase the ‘assessed value’ of...