Abduction: 5 kidnappings reported in Balochistan

Militants warn of more kidnappings if locals participate in LG elections.

QUETTA:

A militant group kidnapped three employees of the Uch power plant in the Nasirabad district on Wednesday, while two elected councillors were taken by a gang in the Kech district in a separate incident.

According to an official of the power plant, three employees of a private company were travelling in a passenger van from Sukkur to Nasirabad when armed militants stopped their vehicle. “They are working as contractors for the Uch power plant and were kidnapped after armed men checked their identity cards,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner Nasirabad Suhailur Rehman told The Express Tribune that the exact location that the three employees were kidnapped from has not yet been determined. “The abducted employees telephoned the Uch power plant office to say they are being taken towards a mountainous area by armed people,” he said. “The phone call was made from Jacobabad.”

The deputy commissioner said the drivers and cleaners of the passenger vans on the Sukkur-Nasirabad route were interrogated but did not report any such incident. Investigations are still underway.

Two members of National Party kidnapped

Two unopposed elected councillors of the National Party (NP) have been kidnapped by a group of armed men from the Kech district of Balochistan on Wednesday.

The Balochistan Levies headquarters in the Kech district confirmed the incident and said Zafarullah and Abdul Rauf were kidnapped from a grocery shop in Dasht Kudan Bazaar.  The two councillors were elected unopposed from the Kudan western ward and Nisar Ali Bazar respectively. Militants have warned the people of Makran division to refrain from taking part in local bodies’ election.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2013.