Nepali police begin search for a missing Pakistani retired army officer: spokesman

Nepali Police have started search for a Pakistan retired army officer who went missing since Thursday while visiting a town in Southwestern Nepal a job interview, a spokesman of the police told Xinhua.

Nepal Police Spokesman Sarbendra Khanal said Sunday that the police Headquarters had asked local authorities in Rupandehi District to look into the disappearance of Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Habib Zahir who went missing shortly after arriving in the town of Lumbini on Thursday.

"As per the instruction from the Home Ministry, we have asked local authorities in Rupandehi District to look into the disappearance of the former Pakistani Army officer," Khanal told Xinhua.

Charge d' Affairs at the Pakistani Embassy in Kathmandu Javed Ahmed Umrani on Friday asked the Nepalese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to find out whereabouts of the missing retired army officer.

According to local media reports, the missing retired Pakistani Army officer arrived here in Nepal on Thursday in search of a job opportunity at the United Nations Office in Nepal after he received a call from a British man named Mark Thompson.

Thompson had offered him a senior position at the United Nations with a handsome salary.

Confirming the disappearance of the former army officer in Nepal, spokesperson at the Pakistan's Foreign Office Nafees Zakaria told media in Islamabad on Sunday that his government had taken up the matter to the Nepalese government through diplomatic channels. Endit