Comrade Bilawal Baloch from Quetta is suspected to have been abducted by the armed forces of Pakistan. He attended the protest held yesterday in front of the Karachi Press Club, which was called by the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), and was heading back from there to his home in Quetta. But his mobile phone is permanently off and nobody has been able to contact him.
It seems that he has been abducted as part of a crackdown on the participants in this protest, in which demonstrators were demanding an end to the atrocities of the Pakistani Army in tribal areas and other parts of the country. Along with the Pashtuns, Balochis in Pakistan have also seen brutal military operations committed against them.
Comrade Bilawal is a Marxist who recently graduated from Balochistan University in Quetta. He is leading the Progressive Youth Alliance in Balochistan, as deputy general secretary, and was active in various protests and student movements in recent years. Along with fighting for the rights of students on the political front, he was also waging an ideological battle with nationalists and various guerilla groups. He has a firm belief in the emancipation of the oppressed nationalities and working masses, through a socialist revolution led by the proletariat.
We condemn the cowardly tactics of the Pakistani state, which is now targeting political activists involved in the struggle for the rights of oppressed people in Pakistan.
We demand the immediate release of comrade Bilawal Baloch and the other six comrades who were abducted by the Pakistani Army for raising their voice against the injustice of the Pakistani state, and supporting the PTM in their struggle.
We appeal to workers of the world to extend their solidarity to Marxists in Pakistan; to condemn and protest this act of injustice by the Pakistani state.
Lal Salaam!