Unidentified gunmen have kidnapped the vice chancellor of the University of Gwadar and three other staff members in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, officials said on Thursday, in an incident that underscores persistent security challenges in a region central to Islamabad’s economic and strategic ambitions.
The abductions took place near Mastung district on Wednesday night as Pakistan increasingly seeks to position Balochistan’s Gwadar port as a strategic trade and energy hub amid regional tensions linked to the Strait of Hormuz, while also pushing ahead with major projects in the region including the multibillion-dollar Reko Diq copper and gold mine. Despite renewed government efforts to attract investment and expand infrastructure in the province, Balochistan continues to face a long-running separatist insurgency in which ethnic Baloch armed groups frequently target security personnel, government officials, infrastructure and Chinese-linked projects.
“VC Abdul Razzaq Sabir along with three other staff members was kidnapped on Wednesday night when he was traveling from Gwadar to Quetta,” Behram Saleem, deputy commissioner of Mastung, told Arab News.
The official said the incident occurred in Khad Kocha, around 18 kilometers from Mastung city, when armed men intercepted the vehicle carrying University of Gwadar Vice Chancellor Abdul Razzaq Sabir, Pro Vice Chancellor Dr. Syed Manzoor Ahmed, Lecturer Dr. Muhammad Irshad and driver Muhammad Hatim.
“Unknown armed men who were standing at the N-25 Quetta-Karachi highway stopped their vehicle and abducted them,” Saleem said.
“Security forces have been conducting search operations in the area to safely recover the abducted university staffers.”
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, though suspicion is likely to fall on Baloch separatist organizations that have previously abducted government officials and workers in the province.
Injured cop succumbs to injuries
A police constable injured in a bomb attack by terrorists on Aziz Abad police checkpost in Charsadda embraced martyrdom during treatment, police said on Thursday.
According to Charsadda Police, Constable Sajjad Khan had sustained critical injuries when unidentified terrorists targeted Aziz Abad checkpost with explosive material on April 22. He was shifted to hospital for medical treatment immediately after the attack but could not survive his wounds and was martyred in the line of duty.