07/06/2026
Mehrab Khalid, a second-year Film & TV student at the National College of Arts (NCA) and a young man from Turbat, Balochistan, has reportedly been missing since May 29. Weeks later, his family, classmates and fellow students are still asking the same question: Where is Mehrab Khalid?
A society can survive poverty, inflation and political instability. What it cannot survive is fear. The foundation of any free country is the ability of its citizens to think, speak, create and live without worrying that they may simply disappear. When a young student vanishes and no answers follow, it raises questions far bigger than one individual case.
Mehrab was not a criminal, nor was he carrying a weapon. He was a filmmaking student at the most prestigious art school, pursuing a creative career and a future in storytelling. Yet today, instead of discussing his journey from a poverty-stricken province into the world of film, people are sharing missing-person posters and demanding information about his whereabouts.
What makes this case even more disturbing is the apparent silence surrounding it, especially from the institution where he was studying. NCA is not just another university; it is an institution that markets itself as a home for artists, thinkers, filmmakers and free expression. If an art school cannot speak up when one of its own students disappears, then what exactly does it stand for?
Students are increasingly questioning why stronger public statements have not been made and why the institution appears more comfortable protecting its image than demanding answers for one of its own. Many are asking what powerful forces have rendered it spineless.
An institution that teaches art but remains silent when its students need solidarity risks betraying the very values it claims to represent. Art without courage are merely decoration. Creativity without freedom is performance. NCA’s complacent response deserves as much scrutiny as the disappearance itself.
Regardless of politics, one fact remains: a young student is missing, and his family deserves answers. Until those answers are provided, the question will remain:
Where is Mehrab Khalid?