The body of a Pakistan Army officer, who was abducted earlier this week by militants, was found on Thursday on a highway in the restive province of Balochistan, officials said.
The outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army, which was designated a terrorist group by the United States in 2019, has claimed responsibility for the killing of Col. Laeeq Baig Mirza.
Mirza was travelling with his family from the town of Ziarat, 100 kilometres northeast of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, when assailants seized them on Tuesday.
The assailants did not harm his family members, but abducted Mirza. The family had travelled to Ziarat from Karachi on the eve of the Eid al-Adha holidays, officials said.
Balochistan Chief Minister Quddus Bizenjo asserted the perpetrators would be put behind bars and Mirza’s family would get justice.
The Chief Minister said security forces have launched an operation to find those behind the killing.
“We can debate issues within the assembly not through the barrel of the gun,” he added.
Over the past decade, Balochistan has witnessed an uptick in insurgency, especially through the Balochistan Liberation Army and other separatist groups demanding independence from the country.
On June 2013, the historical Quaid-e-Azam Residency, which housed the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in his last two months, was attacked and burnt down by the Balochistan Liberation Army militants.–(PTI)