Taken away from Urdu Bazaar’ Publisher and rights activist

on Aug 29, 2022

KARACHI: Four anonymous men in civvies, together with several uniformed officers, took away a book publisher and human rights activist from his book shop in Urdu Bazaar on Saturday, according to friends and rights activists.

They said that Fahim Habib Baloch was carried away from his bookshop, Ilm-u-Adab Publishers, on Friday evening.

According to witnesses, the soldiers in civvies respectfully questioned Mr Baloch if he had sent books to Germany. They informed him that their senior, who was parked outside, wanted to meet him. They kidnapped him, and his whereabouts have been unknown since, according to friends and human rights groups.

Mr Baloch, who is also a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), has been publishing the Sada-i-Balochistan magazine, according to Parveen Naz of the HRCP.

She said that Baloch's cousin, Umme Habib, a lawyer, had attended the Preedy police station but that they refused to accept her written report. She later sent the application by courier service.

However, Preedy SHO Mohammed Sajjad Khan informed Dawn that no applications had been received. He stated that the police were aware of the information of Fahim Baloch's disappearance.

Ms Habib detailed the event in his written report to the Inspector General of Police and the SSP-South.

She stated that she travelled to Karachi from Uthal after learning of her brother's abduction and wanted to file a FIR.

Her brother, she claims, is also a government employee.

The 28th of August, 2022, Dawn