Lt Col Habib Zahir’s abduction: Pakistan waiting for info from Napalese govt

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is still waiting for  credible official information from the Nepalese government to identify a clear trail of abduction of Lt-Col (retd) Habib Zahir by   RAW just after his arrival at the Kathmandu on April 6 this year, the sources told The News here on Thursday. Pakistani media was abuzz with news reports about the latest information related to the abduction of Lt-Colonel allegedly by RAW agents showing he was trapped, kidnapped and shifted to India through Lumbini area, a border point between Sonauli and Tehsil Gorakhpur of Indian State of Uttar Pradesh.

The reports suggested that an Indian citizen Dolly Ranchen waited for three hours in the parking areas of the Kathmandu Airport on April 6 for the Lt-Colonel, who finally reached there via Muscat in flight number WY-344 at 1300 hours.

Habib Zahir was then taken from the Kathmandu Airport by Dolly Ranchen in a Toyota vehicle to the Sonauli area near the Nepal-India border. The SIM card of Habib Zahir received its last signal from Kalidaha Tower near Maya Devi Temple in Lumbini area.

There are 22 border crossings between Nepal and India but identification of the mobile phone signals near Maya Devi Temple indicated that Habib Zahir might have been taken to India from the Lumbini area. 

An earlier probe by family and friends of the Lt-Colonel showed that he received an interview call from a UK telephone number generated via the internet. The email career@stratsolutions.biz and the website startsolutions.biz were hosted by a company called BigRock, which is registered in India. It was also traced out that the United Kingdom (UK) cell phone number (00447451203722) was used by someone named Mark Thomson to invite Lt-Col (r) Habib Zahir to visit Nepal for the interview.

Spokesman of the Foreign Office Nafees Zakaria told The News that "We don't give running commentaries on the issues, but when we get credible information, we share it with the media keeping in view the interests of the country.

"We are continuously in touch with the Nepalese authorities and they informed us whenever they get any credible information about the mysterious disappearance of Lt-Col from Nepal," he said.

To a question, he said they are waiting for any official word from the Nepalese government that has been continuously carrying out the investigation into the kidnapping of Lt-Col (retd) Habib Zahir. He said, "I don't have any latest update, but I can say that both the governments are in touch on this issue."