KARACHl: Six of the eight Baloch students, who had gone `missing` on Oct 16 from their shared residence in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, have returned to their homes, the families said on Friday.

They said that Ishfaq, Shahzad, Bebarg Ameer, Zubair, Qambar Ali and Saeedullah were `released by the police` in Uthal, Balochistan.

However, Hanif and Shoaib are still missing, they added.

Wazir Ahmed, brother of one of the missing students, told Dawn that six of the eight students were released in the wee hours of Friday morning at around 1am at the Uthal police station.

Their families had claimed that the eight students were picked up by law enforcement agencies on Oct 16 during a raid at their shared house. Later, they filed a petition before the Sindh High Court that had issued notices to the home secretary, inspector general of police and other respondents and directed the police to produce the `detainees` in court by Nov 4.