The Vice Chancellor of the University of Gwadar, Abdul Razzaq Sabir, and the Pro-Vice Chancellor, Syed Manzoor Ahmed, were abducted Thursday while traveling on the Coastal Highway.
The two senior academics were heading from Gwadar to Karachi when unidentified armed men intercepted their vehicle near the Ormara area. The kidnappers forced them out of their car and into a separate vehicle before fleeing into the surrounding desert terrain.
Their driver was left behind at the scene, unharmed, and later alerted local authorities. Police and Levies forces have since launched a search operation across the Makran division. Checkpoints along the Coastal Highway have been tightened, and aerial surveillance is reportedly underway, though no group has claimed responsibility for the abduction as of Friday morning. The incident marks a sharp escalation in the security challenges facing the region’s intellectual and administrative leadership.
The University of Gwadar, established to catalyze the economic potential of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), has become a focal point for regional development. Targeting its top administrators strikes directly at the heart of the government’s efforts to normalize educational infrastructure in the province. Local faculty members and civil society leaders expressed immediate outrage.
By Friday afternoon, university staff had staged small protests in Gwadar, demanding the safe recovery of the officials and criticizing the failure of the provincial government to secure a vital national thoroughfare.
Security analysts point to the vulnerability of the Coastal Highway, a route that has seen sporadic attacks by separatist insurgents over the last decade. While the motive remains unconfirmed, the high-profile nature of the kidnapping suggests a calculated attempt to disrupt state-led projects in the port city.
The provincial government has yet to issue a detailed statement on the progress of the search, leaving the families of both men in a state of uncertainty. For now, the highway remains under heavy patrol, and the university has effectively suspended all administrative functions until the officials are returned.
