RAWALPINDI: A son of the retired army officer who had gone missing in Nepal on April 6 has suspected involvement of ‘anti-state elements’ behind the kidnapping of his father in an FIR he has lodged with the Rawat police.

Police have registered the case against unknown anti-state elements and launched investigation on Sunday.

“We are in touch with the interior ministry and doing whatever is possible locally,” said a police investigating officer. The crime had taken place in Nepal and the police had been waiting for instructions from the higher authorities, he added.

In his complaint, Mohammad Saad Habib, son of retired Lt Col Mohammad Habib, said his father had reached Kathmandu via Muscat. “I received his last phone call from Kathmandu on April 6, and he told me that a person named Javaid Ansari had received him from the airport and after that my father went missing.”

Saad Habib said in the FIR that his father got retired from the Pakistan Army three years ago and was in search of a job. During his search, he received a phone call from the United Kingdom and the caller, who identified himself as Mark Thomas, offered him an attractive job.

Retired Lt Col Mohammad Habib took a flight from Lahore to Kathmandu via Muscat on April 5 and reached Lumbini the following day with the help of Javaid Ansari, a local contact in Kathmandu.

After reaching Lumbini, the army officer’s all communication links, including telephone and SMS messages, were disconnected, his son said.

Saad Habib suspected that his father had been kidnapped for ulterior motive by anti-state elements through Javaid Ansari and Thomas. Enemy’s intelligence agencies, he said, could also be involved in the kidnapping of his father.

Earlier, it was reported that subsequent probe by the officer’s family and friends showed that the UK telephone number from which he had received the call for the interview was computer generated, while the email domain and its associated website were registered in India. This has prompted concerns that the Indian spy agency RAW could have been behind the kidnapping.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2017