KARACHI: A publisher of books and magazine and human rights activist was taken away by four unidentified men in civvies along with some uniformed policemen, from his book shop in Urdu Bazaar, his friends and rights activists said on Saturday.

They said that Fahim Habib Baloch was sitting at his book shop, Ilm-u-Adab Publishers, on Friday evening when he was taken away.

Quoting witnesses, they said that the men in civvies politely asked Mr Baloch as to whether he had sent books to Germany. They told him that their senior sitting in his vehicle parked outside wanted to meet him. They took him and since then his whereabouts were not known, the friends and rights activists said.

Parveen Naz of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said that Mr Baloch, also a member of the rights body, had been publishing the Sada-i-Balochistan magazine.

She said Baloch’s cousin, Umme Habib, who is also a lawyer, had approached the Preedy police station but they refused to receive her written complaint. Later, she sent the application through a courier company.

However, Preedy SHO Mohammed Sajjad Khan told Dawn they did not receive any application. He said that the police were aware of the report regarding disappearance of one Fahim Baloch.

In his written complaint sent to the inspector general of police and SSP-South, Ms Habib narrated the incident.

She said she came to Karachi from Uthal after receiving information about her brother’s disappearance and wanted to lodge an FIR.

She said her brother is also a government employee.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2022