QUETTA: An Airport Security Force (ASF) officer, who was kidnapped a month ago, was found dead in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, a police official said on Thursday.
Muhammad Waseem, 58, who hailed from the southern port city of Karachi, was kidnapped by armed men at Quetta-Karachi highway on May 20, when he was traveling to Quetta from his hometown.
A banned separatist group, Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), claimed responsibility for his kidnapping in Muhammad Tawa, a mountainous area in Balochistan’s Kalat district.
“The tortured body of Mr. Waseem was found on Wednesday night around 8 kilometers far from Kalat city,” Munir Mengal, the Kalat police station in-charge, told Arab News.
“Unknown people tortured and killed the kidnapped ASF officer and dumped his body in a desolated mountainous area,” he said. “After identification, the body of Mr. Waseem has been dispatched to Karachi for burial.”
Balochistan, which has been the site of a long-running insurgency, has frequently witnessed kidnappings of and attacks targeting foreign nationals, infrastructure projects, security forces, police and non-native Pakistanis.
Last month, four staffers of the University of Gwadar, including the vice chancellor, were kidnapped from Balochistan’s Mastung district by unidentified men, according to authorities. The kidnappers later released them.
