Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Unidentified gunmen kidnapped a senior Afghan provincial official from Peshawar, the Afghan Embassy said on Saturday.

Deputy Afghan ambassador to Pakistan Zardasht Shams confirmed the incident while talking to Daily Times.

“Yes, I can confirm that the deputy governor of eastern Kunar province, Qazi Muhammad Nabi Ahmadi, has been abducted from Peshawar,” the diplomat said.

Peshawar Police also confirmed the incident. Capital City Police Officer Tahir Khan said that an investigation team had been constituted to find the Afghan official. “A kidnapping case has been registered. The Afghan deputy governor had arrived in Peshawar three days ago,” he said.

It is unclear who is behind the kidnapping. No one has claimed responsibility. Afghan officials have also not blamed anyone, insisting they want early recovery of the official.

Shams said that Nabi was kidnapped on Friday after he arrived in Peshawar for medical treatment. “He was outside a clinic in Dabgari Garden area of Peshawar when unidentified gunmen took him away,” the diplomat said. Like Nabi, many Afghans visit Pakistan for medical treatment in Peshawar, as well other cities.

“We have informed the Pakistan Foreign Ministry and the Afghan Consulate in Peshawar is in contact with the police officials concerned there,” the Afghan deputy ambassador said.

He said the deputy governor came to Peshawar on valid visa and was accompanied by his brother, who later informed the Afghan officials about the incident.

Abdul Ghani Musmim, spokesman for Kunar governor, told Pajhwok news agency on Saturday that the deputy governor sought medical treatment, but he did not know where he had gone.

In February 2016, a former governor of Kunar, Sayed Fazalullah Wahidi, was kidnapped from Islamabad’s Jinnah Super Market by unidentified gunmen.

Wahidi, a close friend of former Afghan president Hamid Karzai had also served as governor of western Herat province, was recovered near Mardan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa two weeks later. Afghan Counsel General Moeen Mrastyal also confirmed the incident and told a section of the media in Peshawar that he had immediately asked his government to take up the issue with Pakistani officials.

Afghan media reported that governor Nabi belonged to Hizb-e-Islami (Hekmatyar group) which last year struck a peace deal with President Ashraf Ghani’s government.

In May this year, Haji Farid, a leader of Hizb-e-Islami was shot dead in Peshawar by unidentified gunmen. In April this year, unidentified gunmen assassinated Maulvi Daud – a former Taliban governor for Kabul – near Shamshato refugees’ camp in the outskirts of Peshawar. Daud’s driver was also killed in the attack.

In June 2015, Maulvi Mir Ahmad Gul Hashmi, a Taliban shadow governor for eastern Nangarhar province, was killed in Peshawar.

A former Taliban minister, Abdul Raqeeb, was also killed in Peshawar in February 2014, apparently for joining the peace process with the Kabul government.

Published in Daily Times, October 29^th 2017.