QUETTA: Adviser to Balochistan Chief Minister on Home and Provincial Disaster Management Authority Mir Ziaullah Langove claimed on Wednesday that five of the nine killed in a recent operation conducted by security forces in Ziarat belonged to a terrorist organisation. However, he said, their names were included in the missing persons’ list prepared by the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons organisation.

The operation was carried out near Ziarat last week against the killers of Lt Col Laiq Baig Mirza and his cousin.

Mr Langove’s remarks come against the backdrop of a claim by the BNP-Mengal, National Party and some Baloch nationalist groups that five ‘militants’ killed in the operation were actually missing persons and that they had gone missing after having been picked up allegedly by security forces. Expressing concern, these parties called for an investigation into the killings.

Speaking at a press conference here, Mr Langove said that on July 12, Lt Col Laiq and his cousin Umar Javed had been kidnapped and later martyred by the banned BLA militants in Ziarat. The adviser descri­bed the act as against Balo­­ch and Islamic traditions.

He said members of Levies Force and police officers were being targeted by the banned organisation and their poor families were severely affected by such incidents.

The adviser said a major operation had been conducted in Ziarat area by security forces after Col Laiq’s murder.

During the operation, he said, an officer of an intelligence agency had been martyred. He said that of the nine terrorists, five had been identified because their names was included in the missing persons’ list.

He said the state’s position was clear on the issue as many of the missing persons were fighting against the state, adding that those who had attacked the Karachi Stock Exchange and those involved in attacks in Nushki and Panjgur were also on the list of missing persons.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2022