Pakistan: Pak government challenges Islamabad HC order on Baloch student grievances

The Pakistan federal government on Wednesday challenged the Islamabad High Court to suspend its April 28 single-bench order regarding the formation of a separate commission on addressing complaints of harassment by Baloch students.

The federal government of Pakistan appealed before the Supreme Court to seek a directive from the apex court to cancel the IHC order given by Chief Justice Athar Minallah on a petition by Imaan Zainab Hazir Mazari, a rights activist, over the alleged harassment of Baloch students, reported Dawn newspaper.

Further, the appeal claimed that the High Court "exceeded its territorial jurisdiction" by forming a separate commission to probe into the grievances of the Baloch students while visiting their home towns in Balochistan.

The federal government argued in its plea that the order issued by the Islamabad HC was unsustainable as it was based upon "misreading and non-reading of the record" accompanied by the "misapplication of the law", reported Dawn newspaper.

"The IHC has no jurisdiction to entertain and pass such orders. It is thus liable to be set aside." read the appeal by the federal government of Pakistan.

Earlier, the IHC had announced the formation of a separate commission, to address the grievances put forward by the Baloch students of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU). The petition submitted by the QAU students stated that the Pakistani authorities across the country are holding them accountable for the disappearances and subjecting them to racial profiling, based on their ethnicity alone.

As a form of harassment, the Baloch students reported that they were forbidden from visiting their hometowns. If they did not comply, they were threatened to be abducted.

(ANI)