A Turkish family has disappeared in Pakistan, and suspicion turns to intelligence agencies

A commotion in the downstairs unit of a house shared by schoolteachers from Turkey woke the neighbors. A Turkish school official and his family were being taken away in the night.

Mesut Kacmaz, his wife and two daughters were restrained, blindfolded and hustled into unmarked pickup trucks in Lahore last month by more than a dozen plainclothes security agents, according to Fatih Avci, a neighbor and fellow teacher. When he tried to intervene, Avci said, he was also handcuffed and hooded, and transported to a secret facility.

“The police officers were pushing and shoving to arrest them,” Avci said in a statement after he was held for several days and released. “I saw . . . Mr. Mesut’s wife lying on the floor and two lady constables pulling her to get on her feet. Their two teenage daughters were weeping loudly.”

Pakistani authorities have not acknowledged detaining the group or holding the Kacmaz family members, who have not been seen since Sept. 27. Turkish educators and Pakistani human rights groups have alleged that they were abducted by members of the state intelligence agencies and have filed court petitions seeking their recovery.