HYDERABAD, March 26: Akhtar Baloch, journalist and member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Core Group in Hyderabad, who was picked up by unidentified persons on Sunday evening, has been set free.

Mr Baloch was dropped an hour past midnight on Wednesday near Gulfishan Marriage Hall in Latifabad-7.

He was not available for comment, and the HRCP circles here said, he had gone to Lahore, where the commission is headquartered.

Commission officials in Lahore said Mr Baloch was due there on Thursday or Friday.

Mr Baloch was dragged out from his jeep on Sunday evening and taken away by his unidentified kidnappers from Thandi Sarak when he was returning from the Indus Hotel with his driver following the annual general meeting of the HRCP.

Sources close to Mr Baloch told Dawn said he was whisked away by personnel of an intelligence agency and kept blindfolded at some place where he was grilled for three days about his personal background, activities and contacts in India.

He was also reportedly quizzed about the nature of his work for the HRCP and his fund-raising efforts.

HRCP sources said Mr Baloch was also confronted with another commission activist, Krishan Sharma, whom he recognized by his voice and who had been picked up some time ago by an agency along with two other unidentified persons. Mr Sharma is the HRCP’s representative in the Tharparkar area.

People who had talked to Baloch after his release further said he was not tortured and was provided with food.

However, his blindfolds were never taken off during his three-day-long ordeal. At the time of his release he was asked not to reveal anything to anyone about the incident.

HRCP: The release of Mr. Baloch did not end the issue of the ‘picking up’ of people by the intelligence agencies, said a press statement released by the HRCP council in Lahore.

While thanking the national and international organizations and individuals for raising voice in defence of Mr Baloch’s rights, the HRCP council noted the inability of the civilian government to take the agencies to task in the backdrop of continuing abuses of fundamental freedoms by the agencies.

The Commission added that at least ten persons had faced such detention over the past year and there was no evidence that the actions were to be halted.

The HRCP demanded accountability of the intelligence agencies who detained Baloch.

It demanded that the government should take immediate action to prevent blatant violations of basic rights and liberties of the citizens.