The government yesterday summoned Pakistan High Commissioner in Dhaka Shuja Alam to inquire about the missing and subsequent return of a staff member of Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad and ‘strongly protested’ the incident, reports UNB. Acting Foreign Secretary and Secretary (Maritime Affairs Unit) Rear Admiral (retd) Khurshed Alam summoned the envoy around 1pm yesterday. Secretary (Bilateral and Consular) Mizanur Rahman was also present at the meeting held at the Foreign Ministry.
Though there is no official statement after the summon, a Foreign Ministry official, wishing not to be quoted, said the government ‘strongly protested’ the incident of its staff going missing and handed over a ‘diplomatic note’ to the High Commissioner.
Bangladesh-Pakistan relations have suffered a blow after Pakistan’s ‘brazen interference’ in Bangladesh's internal affairs over the execution of two top war criminals in November last year. There have been incidents of ‘retaliation’ by Pakistan when its diplomat Fareena Arshad had to leave Dhaka on December
23 amid an allegation that she was involved in ‘terror financing’. Dhaka then had to shift former Counselor-Political at the Bangladesh High Commissioner to Pakistan Moushumi Rahman to Lisbon at the request of Islamabad.
Before leaving the Foreign Ministry, the Pakistan High Commissioner briefly talked to reporters and said they had good discussions in a cordial environment and relations will improve in the days to come.
Shuja Alam also expressed his hope over a date for the annual Foreign Office Consultation (FOC) between Bangladesh and Pakistan, scheduled to be held in Dhaka.
Responding to a question, he said Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry will be here to attend the meeting, once the date is fixed.
Shuja Alam, however, parried a question on Bangladesh-Pakistan tension saying he will only speak about ‘good things’.
He also talked about cricket issue which remains uninterrupted and mentioned that the Pakistan cricket team is coming for Asia Cup while the Under-19 cricket team is already in Bangladesh. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali in Parliament on Tuesday said the government is not yet thinking of severing its diplomatic ties with Pakistan.
“We’re observing the whole situation. Time is very important here. We don’t want to do anything right now (cut ties with Pakistan). But, future will say what direction the relations will go to,” he said
replying to a supplementary question from the treasury bench. Awami League MP Abdul Mannan (Bogra-1) came up with a question whether Bangladesh will permanently cut diplomatic relations with Pakistan following the latter’s unnecessary repeated interventions in the internal affairs of Bangladesh.
In response, Mahmood Ali said, “It’s not like that diplomatic ties have to be severed if there is any tension. Even there were many instances of maintaining diplomatic ties in wartimes in the world.”
But the national interest, he said, will always have to be kept in mind in case of maintaining or severing any diplomatic relation. Considering the national interest, Bangladesh always evaluates international relations and takes steps based on evaluation, he said adding, “It’s also applicable for Pakistan as well.”
Earlier, a Bangladeshi official at its Islamabad diplomatic mission returned home unhurt on Tuesday after remaining traceless for hours together.
Jahangir Hossain, personal officer of Press Counsellor Iqbal Hossain at Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad, went missing on Monday evening. His family and colleagues had been clueless about his  whereabouts for nearly seven hours.
Confirming his return, an official said Jahangir got back home around 12:45am on Tuesday (Pakistan time) but he could not provide any details about why and how he went missing. The official just said Jahangir returned “unhurt”.
Earlier on Monday, detectives in Dhaka detained an official of Pakistan High Commission for his “suspicious movement”.
However, the official, assistant private secretary at the Press Section — Abrar Ahmed Khan — was released and handed over to the High Commission at 6pm. He was picked up at 11am from near his
residence in Gulshan area, police sources said.
A press statement by the Pakistan High Commission said on Monday night that Abrar Khan was handed over to the mission officials by police.
M Maruf Hossain Sardar, deputy commissioner (Media) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), said the detectives detained Abrar Khan for questioning following his “suspicious movement” and was handed over to officials of the Pakistan High Commission after taking ‘undertaking’ from him.
According to the DMP, the officials found 3,500 Indian rupees after searching Abrar’s body. However, the incident of Jahangir’s going missing seems to be a response to what happened in Dhaka the same day, diplomatic sources said.
After his office hours on Monday evening in Islamabad, Jahangir went to pick up his daughter from a coaching centre. But, Jahangir’s daughter did not find her father there and waited for hours.
Later, she called her mother and informed her about the matter.
Jahangir’s cellphone was found switched off and the High Commission officials could not find him out. Bangladesh High Commissioner in Islamabad, Suhrab Hossain, brought the matter to the notice of Pakistan Foreign Ministry and police and sought steps to find out the missing staff.