Missing BD official in Pakistan returns
Incident follows 6-hr detention of Pak HC staff in Dhaka
Diplomatic Correspondent
A staffer of Bangladesh High Commission to Pakistan, Jahangir Hossain, returned to his Islamabad residence early today after remaining missing for about six hours. As the incident coincides with the six-hour detention of a Pakistan High Commission staffer by law enforcers in Dhaka, speculations are rife whether Jahangir was picked-up and later released in retaliation. Jahangir returned to his residence unharmed around 12:30am today (local time) after remaining missing for six hours, Bangladesh High Commissioner to Pakistan Suhrab Hosain told The Independent over phone shortly after his return.
Without detailing whether Jahangir, a press wing staff, was picked-up by someone or where was he taken, the high commissioner said, Well inform you the details later today after talking to Jahangir. Earlier, contacted by The Independent around 12:30am (BST), he said, Jahangir left the office at 6:30pm local time, and since then, he remained missing. The high commission has apprised the Bangladesh foreign ministry and departments concerned of the incident, and has also been engaged in hectic efforts to trace Jahangir, the high commissioner continued. We have also informed the foreign office and law enforcing agencies here of the incident, he said, adding that the Pakistan authorities were extending full cooperation in this regard. Earlier, yesterday, a Pakistani national, who is also a staffer of a Pakistani diplomat in Dhaka, was detained by the Detective Branch (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police from the capitals Gulshan area at noon. Abrar Ahmed Khan, personal assistant to Ambreen Jan, Counsellor (Press) of the Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka, was handed over to an official of the high commission around 6pm.
The detectives picked him up from the road in front of Agora in Gulshan. Khan was on the road in front of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zias residence on a motorbike (Dhaka Metro 39-8247), police said, adding that he was trying to leave the place as the detectives were approaching him. The DB police followed and picked him up from a road near the Agora megashop. Khan was taken to the DB office on the Mintoo Road, and from there he was brought to Gulshan Police Station where he was interrogated for two-and-a-half hours before being released. According to police, some Indian currency was seized from a box of his motorbike. Khan is not a diplomat, but he was carrying a document that shows diplomatic immunity, they added. The police also said that Khan had been under surveillance for two months as he used to roam around the residence of the BNP chairperson. Meanwhile, Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka condemned the incident and claimed that false allegations were levelled against Khan. Abrar Ahmed Khan has been working as the Assistant Private Secretary in the Press Section at the Pakistan High Commission, Dhaka since July 2011. This morning, around 11am, four to five plainclothesmen forcefully picked him up from near his residence, close to Agora in Gulshan-2, said a press release issued by the high commission last night, describing the incident.
