Kidnapped Pak officials released by their captors

KARACHI, Feb 16: Five senior officials and a tribal elder abducted last week in Pakistan’s volatile southwestern Balochistan province have been released, authorities said today.

“All five officials of the district administration of Kech and a tribal elder who were kidnapped near Tump town were freed by their captors last night,” they said.

The five are — Kech’s Deputy Commissioner Abdul Hameed Abro, Tump’s Assistant Commissioner Mohammad Hussain Baloch, Dasht’s Assistant Commissioner Naeem Gichki, Tehsildar Rafiq Ahmed, Naib Tehsildar Ahmed Ali and tribal elder Mir Dost Mohammad had reached Turbat.

The Baloch Liberation Front first kidnapped Abro and Hussain Baloch and next day when the other three officials and the tribal elder went to the area to negotiate with them they were also abducted.

Gohram Baloch, a spokesperson for the banned Baloch Liberation Front said the BLF had released them on its own and he denied the role of any tribal elder in their release. (AGENCIES)