Islamabad police report ‘headway’ in former Afghan governor's case

Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi went missing from Rana market in Islamabad on Friday

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad police have claimed to have made headway in the case of a former governor of Herat who had gone missing in the capital, as Kabul urged Islamabad to immediately recover him.

The former governor of Herat province, Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi, was out shopping with his 12-year-old grandson at the Rana market but did not return, sources had said on Friday.



Wahidi had arrived in Islamabad on February 7 along with his family to get visas to travel to the United Kingdom, as the British embassy in Kabul does not directly issue visas to Afghan nationals.

According to police, the former governor had stepped out at around 4:30pm with his grandson Zabiullah before disappearing. Diplomatic sources, however, claimed that Wahidi had been kidnapped.

During a high-level meeting on Saturday, Islamabad police informed Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan that the law enforcers had achieved a key breakthrough in the case during the past 24 hours. They assured the top security czar that Wahidi would be recovered soon.

Meanwhile, Kabul expressed grave concerns over Wahidi’s alleged kidnapping. “We are asking Pakistan to use all resources for his immediate recovery,” said a statement issued by the Afghan foreign ministry.

Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai has also expressed concerns over the former governor’s disappearance.

He asked the British authorities to issue visas in Afghanistan so they do not have to go to other countries for the purpose. Wahidi had remained very close to Karzai and had also served as governor of Kunar province.

Diplomatic sources had earlier claimed that the Islamabad police had been unable to trace the whereabouts of the former governor.



A police official said Wahidi had been staying at a guesthouse in Islamabad’s F-7 sector. Some sources claim he has a house in the locality.

Afghan foreign ministry spokesman Shakib Ahmad Mustaghni had said on Friday that Pakistan had assured the Afghan government of investigating the incident and sharing the details with Kabul.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 14^th, 2016.