Involvement of 'hostile agencies' could not be ruled out in disappearance of Pak officer:FO

Pakistan said on Wednesday that the involvement of "hostile agencies" could not be ruled out in the disappearance of a retired Pakistan army officer from Nepal in 2017.

The Foreign Office spokesperson made the remarks in response to the media reports claiming that Lt Col (retd.) Habib Zahir was in Indian custody and speculated about a swap with Indian death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav.

The spokesperson said that Habib was a retired Pakistani officer who went missing in Nepal, where he had gone for a job interview in April 2017.

"As stated earlier, Pakistan maintains that the involvement of hostile agencies cannot be ruled out. The government continues to make all out efforts to locate him and shall not rest until he is home," the FO said.

The Government of Nepal constituted a special team to look into his disappearance but there has not been any progress in the matter so far.