In some ways, they are still missing.

None of them have spoken about their capture or treatment, widely attributed to Pakistani security agents; one, now in the Netherlands, said last week that he had been “afraid I would never come back,” although he did not identify his abductors. None appear to have posted anything online.

While public furor has died down with the return of the men, the case raises disturbing questions about the unchallenged role of state security agencies — which operate in the shadows, free of civilian oversight — in tracking and quashing new forms of dissent in the Internet era. Rights groups say a total of 11 bloggers have disappeared in recent weeks, but only five cases have been publicly reported.

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