ISLAMABAD: One of Pakistan’s top universities has come under fire after a debate on rights in the restive southwestern province of Baluchistan was canceled apparently at the behest of intelligence agencies.

The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) had organized a panel discussion for Thursday entitled “Un-silencing Baluchistan,” featuring campaigners from the province as well as academics, activists and journalists.

But the event was canceled at short notice after the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency intervened, according to a LUMS academic and one of the panellists.

Human rights groups have long accused Pakistani security forces and intelligence agencies of serious abuses in Baluchistan, which has been wracked for years by a separatist insurgency.

The security services deny the allegations and say they are battling a fierce rebellion in the province.

Baluchistan, Pakistan’s largest but least populous province, is unquestionably a sensitive subject for the security forces and they keep close tabs on anyone suspected of promoting separatism.

“Two intelligence officials came to the university and told the head of department that they had direct orders from Director General of the ISI to cancel the event,” Taimour Rehman, an assistant professor at the university, said.

He said the officials told academics the event would “bring a bad name to the country” and showed them a letter from the ISI chief ordering the cancelation.

Rehman said the department head offered to change the panel, dropping or adding people to rebalance it, but they refused.

Among the panellists was Abdul Qadir Baloch, known as Mama (uncle) Qadir, an activist who campaigns for information on people who have “disappeared” during the long-running conflict in Baluchistan.

Last month Qadir was hit with a travel ban as he was about to leave for a rights conference in New York.

“A LUMS official called me and told me not to travel as the event has been canceled on pressure of the ISI,” Qadir told AFP.

LUMS is regarded as a fairly liberal institution and the cancelation provoked anger on social media, with the hashtag #ShameonLUMS trending on Twitter in Pakistan.

A photograph of the poster for the event was posted on Pak Tea House, a cultural and political debate blog, with the title altered to read “Re-silencing Baluchistan.”

One of the other panellists, I. A. Rehman of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, slammed the cancelation as “ridiculous.”

“It means you cannot talk about Baluchistan and it means you don’t respect the fundamental rights of the people of Baluchistan,” he told AFP.