QUETTA/Gwadar: Six pilgrims returning home from Iran were kidnapped by unknown armed men from the Panjgur area of Makran division on Saturday, according to sources in the administration.

Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani ordered the provincial police chief and the Makran commissioner to submit a report on the incident immediately. “Nobody will be allowed to challenge the writ of the government,” he said on Sunday, calling for all-out efforts for the recovery of the pilgrims.

Sources said that six men and two women were returning home from Iran after performing a pilgrimage in Mashhad. After crossing into the border town of Panjgur, they were headed to Essa, just three kilometres away, when armed men stopped their vehicle and forced the six men to accompany them to an unknown place.

The pilgrims were on their way to Karachi after spending 50 days in Mashhad.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2020