ISLAMABAD - A Pakistani team will soon be visiting Nepal for examining the firsthand facts as mystery continues to shroud the whereabouts of former Pakistan army officer Col (Retd) Habib Zahir in Nepal.
The ex-army officer was allegedly kidnapped by the Indian intelligence agencies from an area bordering between Nepal and India after he was invited to the country in connection with a job opportunity.
According to sources, a team comprising government officials from the Ministry of Interior will proceed for Nepal to examine the firsthand facts, take the statement of Javed Ansari, the host and airline officials/hotel management to assess as to who arranged the bookings etc.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the interior ministry to nominate a team in this regard, official sources told The Nation on Thursday. “The composition of special team — so as to forward the same to the concerned authorities of Nepal — is under consideration,” they added.
Last seen in Lumbini in the first week of April, Muhammad Habib Zahir had disappeared from Lumbini near Nepal’s border with India. The Government of Pakistan had approached the Nepalese government for mutual legal assistance and arrangement for the visit of the team from Pakistan to Nepal.
The team, according to the official sources, will seek any other information from fellow passengers or any other person concerned and also take statement of the police officer In-charge of the city/town from where the said Pakistani went missing to ascertain if he has found any clue or reason of his alleged kidnapping. The team will also ascertain the frequency of movements across the border with India. It is likely that a team from NACTA would be constituted to visit Nepal.
Zahir had arrived in Nepal to reportedly face an interview for a United Nations job. According to the reports, Zahir arrived in Nepal via an Air Arabia flight (Call Sign WY 344), with the passport no. AJ5122964, for a UN job interview in Nepal. According to the reports, Zahir had retired as Colonel in 2014 and Mark Thomson had called him to Lumbini based on his personal details posted by him on a website. There had been a correspondence between the two. Thomson had called him to Nepal to face interview and had himself sent an air ticket for him. India is believed to have entrapped and kidnapped from Kathmandu Zahir to make it a case of having apprehended an “ISI spy” and equate it with the case of RAW agent and saboteur Kulbhushan Yadav. The facts, however, are quite contrary in both cases.
