March 19, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 10, 1429

KARACHI, March 18: Expressing concern over the fate of two missing persons, their relatives said that despite approaching all the relevant authorities and making all-out efforts to find them out during the last one year, the whereabouts of their abducted family members could not be found.

They alleged that they were picked up by intelligence agencies who, according to them, had kept them at secret interrogation centres in different part of Balochistan.

Talking to newsmen, Mohammad Khan Baloch said his father, Faiz Mohammad Balo-

ch, had been missing since March 14, 2007, when he had gone to his farm but never returned.

Mr Baloch said that as per his information Faiz Mohammad Baloch was in the custody of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) Turbat, but his detention could not be confirmed.

Alleging that his father had been picked up security agencies, he feared for his father’s life.

He said his father was an elderly person and suffering from multiple diseases, including heart ailments.

He urged all the human rights organisations to take up the issue of illegal detention of his father, saying that if there was any case against his father, he should be produced in a court of law.

Haji Abdul Rehman said that his son, Mohammad Iqbal, had also been kidnapped by security agencies and had been illegally detained.

Mr Rehman said his son, a graduate along with three other colleagues, was arrested in March last year by security agencies during a search operation.

However, the other men were released after one year but the whereabouts of Mr Iqbal still remain a mystery.

Under these circumstances, Mr Rehman said his family had no other option but to seek the cooperation of the media and human rights organisations to take up the issue seriously and to press the government to produce him in a court.