Armed men kidnapped Afghanistan’s ambassador-designate to Pakistan, Abdul Khaliq Farahi, from the posh Hayatabad locality after killing his driver on Monday afternoon. The diplomat’s driver, Khalid, was hit by bullets in his eye, throat and chest as attackers opened fire on him when he offered resistance.
A search operation has been launched in Hayatabad as well as Khyber Agency as the diplomat is said to have been taken to Jamrud subdivision of the tribal agency, bordering Afghanistan. “Yes, the ambassador was kidnapped and his driver killed when gunmen ambushed their car in Hayatabad,” Noor Mohammad Takal, Commercial Attache of the Afghan Consulate in Peshawar, confirmed to The News.
There were reports that another person travelling in the car was also kidnapped but Noor Mohammad denied the reports, saying only the Afghan ambassador was abducted. “We can’t say something at this stage as to who could be behind the abduction,” the official said.
NWFP Inspector General of Police (IGP) Malik Naveed Khan also confirmed the kidnapping. Abdul Khaliq Farahi (51), who served for over six years as the Afghan consul-general in Peshawar, and was recently promoted as ambassador to Islamabad, didn’t have any police escort. It was learnt that the ambassador, yet waiting for presenting his credentials to President Asif Ali Zardari, was on a private visit to the provincial metropolis.
“The ambassador along with his driver was travelling in the official car (Peshawar CC-10-25) when six armed men driving a red-colour double cabin pick-up intercepted his car on the road near FCA Bridge in Phase-III Hayatabad at around 3 pm,” a source told this correspondent. Another source was of the opinion that the attackers came in two cars and were seven in number.
The source added that the kidnappers forced the diplomat out of his car and bundled him into their vehicle. The assailants opened fire on the driver killing him on the spot when he offered resistance, and took the diplomat to an unknown location.
Family sources revealed that the mobile phones of the kidnapped diplomat were out of range. It is baffling for many people as to why the ambassador was travelling without any proper security escort when the VVIPs were already under threat in this part of the country. “We were not informed about his visit,” said a police official requesting anonymity.
Farahi has his private residence in Hayatabad, the posh township located in extreme west of the capital and sharing a long boundary with the Khyber tribal region. From the same Khyber Agency, Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin was kidnapped in February last. Tariq returned safe and sound after spending a long time in captivity of the kidnappers, who are still not known.
Apart from the Khyber Agency factor, another common thing between the two incidents was that both the ambassadors were without proper security escort when they were picked up. Tariq Azizuddin was only accompanied by his driver and gunman when he was picked up on his way to Kabul through Khyber Agency. Similarly, Abdul Khaliq Farahi was only accompanied by his driver when he was abducted on Monday.
Farahi is the father of five, two sons and three daughters, all of whom are said to have settled in the United States. Once a supporter of the Afghan ‘Mujahideen’ fighting against the USSR, Farahi was a member of the Nifaz-e-Islam Forum in Afghanistan, led by Pir Sayed Ahmad Gillani. He later joined Ittehad-e-Islami of Professor Sayyaf.
Farahi was appointed Afghanistan’s consul-general in Peshawar in April 2002 by the new Afghan government after the fall of Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Earlier, he was serving as consul-general in Quetta.
Farahi belongs to an influential family of the Farah province of Afghanistan. One of his cousins, Ghulam Nabi Farahi, is member of Afghan parliament while another, Abdul Razzaq Farahi, is holding a key position in the Afghan Foreign Ministry. Farahi’s driver Khalid was also a resident of Farah province.
As he had served for a long tenure as consul-general in the strategically important city of Peshawar, Farahi had a large circle of friends in the provincial capital and other parts of the province. As he was not formally appointed ambassador to Islamabad, charge d’affaires of the Afghan embassy in the federal capital Majnoon Gulab was looking after the affairs of the diplomatic mission. The former ambassador of Afghanistan, Mohammad Anwar Anwarzai, has returned to Kabul.
The kidnapping of a high-profile diplomat from the city shocked the Peshawarites. The top government officials held a marathon emergency meeting with the provincial chief secretary in the chair to take measures for the early and safe release of the diplomat.
“Police and other security agencies launched a search operation in Hayatabad and parts of settled and tribal areas for the safe recovery of the diplomat,” a source said. He said all the routes leading to Khyber Agency were blocked immediately after the incident. “Authorities have arrested a suspect, who is being interrogated,” the source disclosed.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani while strongly condemning the kidnapping of Afghan Counsel-General has directed his Adviser on Interior Rehman Malik to strengthen the security of diplomats and the diplomatic missions.
AFP adds: The Afghan foreign ministry, meanwhile, called in the Pakistan’s charge d’affaires to express concern about the abduction of ambassador-designate Abdul Khaliq Farahi. “We demanded the Pakistani government to do their utmost to free our diplomat,” ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Baheen said.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s office said he and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had agreed in a telephone call late Sunday to forge closer cooperation to thwart extremist violence spanning the border. Karzai had called Gilani to offer condolences for Saturday’s truck bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.