QUETTA: Gunmen this week kidnapped a senior judge and set fire to a lower court in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan, police said on Tuesday.
The attack took place in the Maskan Kalat area of Kharan district while court hearings were underway. Armed men stormed the premises, ransacked records, destroyed furniture and briefly held court staff hostage before abducting Judge Qazi Ahmed Jan, according to police.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least-developed province, has for years faced a separatist insurgency that has intensified recently, with militants increasingly targeting security personnel, government offices, infrastructure and non-local residents.
In the latest attack, unidentified gunmen attacked the court on Monday morning, Deputy Inspector General of Police Abdul Haye Amir Baloch said.
“The gunmen set the court on fire and kidnapped a senior judge Qazi Ahmed Jan while he was inside the court and hearing the proceedings,” Baloch told Arab News.
