KARACHI: A seminar on the missing persons of Balochistan is being organised on the premises of Karachi University on May 6 to support the struggle initiated by slain human rights activist Sabeen Mahmud.

The seminar, Baloch missing persons — role of state and society, will have Mama Qadeer, Mir Ali Talpur, S. Akbar Zaidi, Mohammed Hanif, Nazish Brohi, Farzana Majeed and Dr Arfana Mallah as speakers.

“We want to show that the freedom of speech cannot be suppressed by the mere wishes of the state apparatus. Sabeen’s martyrdom is not the end of the struggle of the liberals; instead it awakens the consciousness of the intelligentsia,” said Dr Riaz Ahmed, a senior KU teacher and part of the event organising team.

The event will be held at the auditorium of the KU’s faculty of arts at 11am.

The slain rights activist, who was the director of The Second Floor (T2F), was shot dead when she was driving home after organising a discussion on Baloch missing persons last Friday.

Earlier, a seminar on the same subject was cancelled by the Lahore University of Management Sciences.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2015

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