HYDERABAD, March 24: The journalist community of Hyderabad on Monday staged a silent march from the local press club to the DPO’s office in protest against the mysterious kidnapping of a journalist and coordinator of the HRCP Core Group, Akhtar Baloch.

Mr Baloch was kidnapped from the Thandi Sarak late Sunday evening while he was returning from the Indus Hotel after paying bills of the HRCP activists, who had come from all over the country to attend the annual general meeting of the Commission.

The police authorities had shown a total lack of interest regarding the recovery of Mr Baloch, indicating that he had not been kidnapped by bandits but had been picked up by some other “hidden hands.”

The protesters were led, among others, by the president and general secretary of the Hyderabad Press Club, Lala Rehman Samo and Junaid Khanzada, respectively.

The DPO, A. D. Khwaja and the additional DPO, Sharjeel Kharal, were not available for comments.

Meanwhile, the president and secretary-general of the Hyderabad Union of Journalists, Hamid Shaikh and Altaf Koti, respectively, condemned Akhtar Baloch’s kidnapping, and described the incident as being one of the worst forms of human rights violation.

They criticized the police for its total apathy in this regard.

They said that despite the passage of 24 hours, senior police officials were still maintaining a disturbing and discrete silence over the incident, adding that their total lack of interest regarding the recovery of the kidnapped journalist was creating misgivings in the minds of the journalists.

Our Mirpurkhas Correspondent adds: Local journalists on Monday staged a demonstration at the Post Office Chowk to protest against the kidnapping of Akhtar Baloch.

Protesters demanded of the government to ensure immediate release of Mr Baloch. Saleem Azad, Hashim Shar and Afaq Ahmed, condemned the kidnapping incident.