On August 12, 2024, Punjab University (PU) suspended Sadia Baloch, a law student and member of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), for delivering a speech during a June 10 rally in which she called for the release of an abducted Baloch student. 

As described in the suspension note that PU issued to Baloch, the university charged her with participating in an illegal rally on university premises and of using her platform at the university to deliver a speech with “objectionable and propagative words” aimed at “polluting other students’ mind against government institutions” The letter alleged that the “conduct and behavior of the student has badly injured the reputation of the University.”

Baloch disputed the university’s accusation that the rally was “illegal” and “objectionable,” arguing that BYC had received permission to hold a rally on campus premises and that other student groups were allowed to carry guns. 

Scholars at Risk is concerned about the suspensions of a student in retaliation for her peaceful expressive activity, conduct that is expressly protected by international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Pakistan is a party. In addition to the harm to the immediate victims, retaliation against peaceful expressive activity undermines academic freedom and democratic society generally.

Sources: 

https://thewire.in/south-asia/baloch-anger-disappearances-punjab-university-suspends-student
https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/balochistan-activist-faces-university-suspension-for-criticising-pakistani-armed-forces20240814034609/
https://x.com/sadiabalochssb/status/1822927927513596381