The body of an Airports Security Force (ASF) deputy director who was taken into custody by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) in Balochistan’s Kalat district last month has been recovered, police and district administration officials said on Thursday.
The officer, identified as 58-year-old Muhammad Waseem Ahmed of Karachi, was travelling from Quetta to Karachi with a colleague when armed fighters intercepted their private vehicle in the Muhammad Tawa area on May 20.
Police said the vehicle, which was also carrying two drivers, was stopped around 40 kilometres from Kalat. After establishing the identities of those inside, the armed fighters took Muhammad Waseem and his colleague with them, while the vehicle and both drivers were later released.
The drivers reported the incident to Sadar Police Station in Kalat, after which a case was registered at the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) police station. Police, the CTD, Frontier Corps and other agencies subsequently launched a search for the two men but were unable to recover them.
A senior official of the Kalat divisional administration, speaking to the media on condition of anonymity, said Muhammad Waseem’s body was recovered on Wednesday from the Touk area, within the jurisdiction of Sadar Police Station.
Kalat Police Control also confirmed the recovery, saying the body was found at a deserted location around two kilometres east of the Quetta-Karachi national highway.
Police shifted the body to the District Headquarters Hospital in Kalat and later sent it to Karachi after completing the necessary legal procedures. The condition and whereabouts of the officer’s colleague were not immediately known.
The BLA had earlier claimed responsibility for taking Muhammad Waseem into custody, identifying him as a deputy director and commanding officer of Pakistan’s Airports Security Force.
“Waseem Ahmed, deputy director and commanding officer of the Airports Security Force under the Ministry of Defence of occupying Pakistan, is in our custody,” BLA spokesperson Jeeyand Baloch said in a brief statement at the time.
The spokesperson said BLA fighters had taken the officer into custody after identifying him on the main highway in Kalat, adding that the operation was carried out on the basis of intelligence provided by the group’s intelligence wing, “ZIRAB.”
The BLA had not issued an official statement regarding the recovery of Muhammad Waseem’s body at the time of publication.