Kech kidnapping: Govt contacts BLF to secure release of eight officials

Six officials seized when they went to negotiate the release of two officials kidnapped earlier.

QUETTA/ ISLAMABAD:

The Balochistan government has contacted the banned Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) to secure the release of its eight officers who were seized on Thursday and Friday.

“Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch wants to avoid an operation by security forces,” provincial government spokesperson Jan Buledi told The Express Tribune. “Our priority is to secure the release of the kidnapped officials through peaceful negotiations,” he added. “The use of force will be the last option.”

Senior administration officials Deputy Commissioner Kech Abdul Hameed Abro and Tehsildar Tump Hussain Jan were kidnapped by armed men in the Tump area near Turbat on Thursday.

On Friday, Assistant Commissioner Dasht Naeem Gichki, Naib Tehsildar Buleda Rafiq Ahmed, Tehsildar Dasht Khadan Ahmed Ali, Naib Risaldar Levies Force Bisham Baloch, Sepoy Levies Force Jamil Ahmed and one tribal elder were sent to negotiate with the abductors. When they reached Tump, about 15 armed men appeared on motorbikes and kidnapped them.



In the past, Baloch militants, including those from Baloch Liberation Army and Baloch Republican Army, used to target security personnel and government officials from Punjab. This is the first time they seized ethnic Baloch officials. Jan Buledi said he could not understand why the insurgents abducted the Baloch administration officials.

The chief minister said it was highly regrettable that the government officials were kidnapped in the presence of security forces. “The incident proves that the security forces are helpless in some areas of the province,” he told the media in Quetta.

The government is learnt to have ordered an inquiry to find out why the security personnel escorting the administration officials did not take action when they were being taken captive.

About Thursday’s kidnapping, sources said that the deputy commissioner and Tehsildar were travelling in a convoy comprising four vehicles when they were seized. The gunmen overpowered the 24 police and levies personnel escorting the two officials and ordered the convoy to follow them. Sources added that the gunmen had snatched official weapons from the security personnel before allowing them to go.

Kech, the hometown of Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, is a stronghold of the BLF, a group led by Dr Allah Nazar Baloch that has been responsible for several attacks on government officials and security personnel.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2014.