Bangladesh summons Pakistan envoy
Dhaka: Bangladesh government has summoned Pakistan High Commissioner in Dhaka Shuja Alam apparently to inquire about the missing and subsequent return of a staff member of Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad, reports local news agency.
Acting Foreign Secretary and Secretary (Maritime Affairs Unit) Rear Admiral (retd) Khurshed Alam summoned the envoy at about 1:00pm on Tuesday. Secretary (Bilateral and Consular) Mizanur Rahman was also present at the meeting held at the Foreign Ministry.
Before leaving the Foreign Ministry, the Pakistan High Commissioner briefly talked to reporters and 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.
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 at about Pakistan time 12:45am on Tuesday, 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.
Mohammad 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.

NTV Online