From Our Correspondent, Manan Mandokhail, News Desk:
DERA BUGTI: At least five football players were kidnapped in Balochistan’s Dera Bugti district on Saturday afternoon. “The footballers were played in the troubled Sangsila area of Dera Bugti”, a senior administration official said. He requested anonymity since he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The five kidnapped football players were coming to Sibi to qualify for the Chief Minister Balochistan Gold Cup when picked up by armed militants. “We have launched a search operation in the area”, Saleh Muhammad Nasar, the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Balochistan said. He said the operation was suspended because of the darkness and the sensitivity in the area.
CM Balochistan takes notice of the kidnapping of football players
The operation would be relaunched in the morning and hopefully, the football players would recover soon, the home secretary said. The incident prompted the caretaker Chief Minister Balochistan, Ali Mardan Domki to take notice of the incident.
The CMÂ has directed the administration to double efforts to ensure the unhurt recovery of of the kidnapped football players, an official statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Secretariat said. The CM directed the local administration to form a joint team of levies and police to recover the kidnapped football players.
Senior officials reached Dera Bugti
The kidnapped football players belonged to the Sangsila area of Dera Bugti and they are local tribesmen, the Home Secretary informed. Senior administration officials also reached Dera Bugti and have been monitoring the search operation, he mentioned.
Dera Bugti is considered to be one of the sensitive districts of Balochistan. Militants in the area have been targeting security forces, and vital national installations and kidnapping pro-government people in the area. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the kidnapping. Security tightened in and around Sangsila in the aftermath of the incident.
