Kech | Pakistan

Kech DC survives IED attack

Members of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee’s (BYC) Kech chapter continued their hunger strike for a second consecutive day on Friday, protesting the alleged “illegal detention” of their leaders and the “extrajudicial arrests of Baloch citizens”. BYC chief Dr Mahrang Baloch and other activists were arrested on March 22 for “attacking” Quetta Civil Hospital and “inciting people to violence”, a day after their members faced a police crackdown in Quetta while protesting against alleged enforced disappearances. The BYC is a Baloch advocacy group working against enforced disappearances since 2018. They were sent to jail under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordnance, which empowers authorities to “arrest and detain suspected persons”. Mahrang and the other activists remain incarcerated. The Kech chapter launched a three-day hunger strike in front of the Turbat Press Club on Thursday, according to the group’s X account. “Despite the blistering 50°C heat, members of the Baloch nation are courageously parti...

Tump Assistant Commissioner Muhammad Hanif Noorzai was abducted from Balochistan’s Kech district on Wednesday, an official told Dawn.com. According to Kech Deputy Commissioner Bashir Ahmed Barich, unidentified militants kidnapped the AC, who was posted at Tump, near the Iranian border. He said Noorzai was on his way from Quetta to Tump on Wednesday morning, but did not provide further details. Noorzai is from Quetta and has previously served as AC in different areas of the province. In September 2016, Asad Khan Tareen, son of then-Balochistan’s Minister for Local Government Sardar Mustafa Tareen — who had been kidnapped in May that year — was recovered from an area of Qila Abdulla district close to the Pak-Afghan border. Armed men kidnapped Asad Tareen in Pishin town on May 21 when he was returning from Cadet College Pishin, where he worked as a warden. He was reportedly taken across the border in Afghanistan. This is a developing story