PESHAWAR, March 4: The family of Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan is in a state of shock and dismay as the government and tribal administration have failed to trace Tariq Azizuddin, who has been missing for the last 23 days.

Since the ambassador had gone missing, no government official had bothered to contact his family, said an immediate relative of Mr Azizuddin. His family complained that government was yet to take serious initiative for his safe recovery.

“This is very unfortunate that the representative of Pakistan has been missing for about three weeks and the government was tightlipped. We have approached everybody at the highest level, but we did not receive any positive response,” he told Dawn on condition of anonymity.

Ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin along with his driver and a bodyguard went missing near Ali Masjid in the Khyber tribal region on Feb 11 while on his way to Kabul from Peshawar via Khyber Pass. Political authorities in the Khyber Agency argued that the ambassador had neither informed them about his journey in the area nor had asked for an escort.

Like his family, senior officials are also confused about the mysterious disappearance of the senior diplomat and lack of attention on the part of the federal government.