How Col (R) Haibib Zahir went missing...?

Five years ago , retired Pakistan Army officer Col. Habib Zahir went missing in Nepal, near Indian border.  Five years on, still there are no traces of him. What actually happened? We don't know, but here is what might have happened. Habib Zahir retired from Pak army in 2014. In 2017, he posted his CV on LinkedIn for job offers.

According to family, he received a call from a company for position of Vice President (Security) in Nepal. After initial formalities, Habib was told that has he been shortlisted. He was informed by a person Mr. Mark that his interview has been scheduled on 6th April, 2017. Apparently, Mr Mark claimed to be from UK & was HR manager of the company. Habib Zahir was sent an air-ticket for Kathmandu via a connecting flight from Oman. As per record available, Habib Zahir landed on Kathmandu Airport @ 1300 hours on 6th April. 

At Kathmandu airport, he took this photo & sent to his wife on WhatsApp. He also told her that he was leaving for Lumbini via Buddha Air that is a domestic carrier. 

Few hours later, he landed at Lumbini & informed his wife about his arrival. This was Let. Col. (retd) Habib Zahir's last contact with the family.

Right after that, his phone was switched off and his family lost contact with him. 

Now this Lumbini city is just 5KM away from India-Nepal border, as you can see in this map. 

This Lumbini city is known for Bhuddist religious tourism.

This city is visited by Buddhist people from around the world. Apparently, company was also related to tourism. 

Initial investigation revealed that job offer was a "trap". Here is why:

- UK number being used was a VOIP - a computer generated phone number.

- Website of the company was being operated from India and it was shut down soon after Habib Zahir went missing.

Now if you look at this photo, it wasn't a selfie. There was someone else out there who received Habib at airport & probably he took that photo.

Pakistani agencies believe that two Indian nationals welcomed Habib at airport. They also booked hotel room for him in Kathmandu. 

Pakistan informed Nepal about the incident. Nepalese government made a committee to investigate the issue. It's findings have never been made public.

However, Nepali govt accepted that Col. Habib Zahir went missing from Nepal but he wasn't in Nepal now.

Pakistan Foreign Office issued a statement that it believes that "hostile agencies" are involved in kidnap of Habib Zahir from Lumbini, near Indian border.

Pakistan also officially informed India about the incident but, as per foreign office, no positive response was received.

In 2019, Pakistan explicitly claimed that Col. Habib Zahir was kidnapped by Indian agencies & asked India to cooperate.

However almost after five years, there are no traces of the missing Col. Habib Zahir and his whereabouts. Many believe that Indian agencies lured Habib Zahir to Nepal in order to kidnap him & to use him for a "swap" with Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav. 

However, no "swap" has been made after 5 years. Pakistani govt has also no indication that it will release Yadav anytime soon. 

Indian Express newspaper published an article around that time that claimed that Col. Habib Zahir was part of the team that arrested Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav from Balochistan.

However, that claim has never been corroborated by Pakistan or any Pakistani officials. 

Was that an Indian attempt to take 'revenge' ? Did the kidnap attempt go wrong? Has he been killed ? We can never know. 

However, his family still waits for him. They still believe that Col. Habib is alive and he will return to Pakistan one day.