February 3, 2006	Friday	Muharram 4, 1427

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MULTAN, Feb 2: Some local government representatives of Kohlu district in Balochistan have demanded ‘release’ of their Marri tribe notable who, according to them, was ‘kidnapped’ by the government intelligence agencies in Dera Ghazi Khan.

Speaking at a press conference here on Thursday, Mir Colonel Qadhafi said his brother Mir Asghar Khan, who is the head of Pirdadani sub-clan of the Marri tribe, was picked up in a joint action by the Dera police and some plainclothesmen on Jan 28 last when he, along with his seven-year-old son Rehan, was passing by the Fareedi Bazaar in Dera Ghazi Khan.

He said the men in civvies were perhaps the officials of some intelligence agencies. The police ruthlessly pushed Rehan to the ground to detach him from his father whom they bundled in an official van. “Rehan has not come to senses since he saw kidnapping of his father and suffered the police callous attitude,” he added.

Colonel Qadhafi said being an elder of his tribe, Mir Asghar had addressed a press conference in Multan a few days before his kidnap to express concern over the ongoing military operation in his native Kohlu district. He said Mir had pointed out human rights violations in the Marri area.

He said if the government had any allegation of criminal nature against Mir Asghar, he should be produced before a court of law so that he could exercise his right to defend himself.

In the meantime, they had filed a habeas corpus petition with the Multan bench of Lahore High Court. “We just want justice to prevail,” he said.

Colonel Qadhafi claimed that 4,000 people of Balochistan were languishing in illegal confinement in country’s various detention centres. “Their only sin is that they have raised voice for the rights of Balochistan and its people.”

He said students, intellectuals and political workers were among the illegally-confined Baloch people and ironically their families did not know about their whereabouts.