Pakistan withdraws official from High Commission in Dhaka

Pakistan has withdrawn an official from its High Commission in Dhaka after Bangladesh intelligence found his involvement in criminal activities including terror financing.

The High Commission has notified the foreign ministry that one of its attaché Mohammad Mazhar Khan left Dhaka with his family on Jan 31.

Khan was also an agent of Pakistan’s secret service ISI and was engaged with large scale forgery of Indian currency, recent media reports suggested.

He was removed after Dhaka asked the Islamabad to do so, a foreign ministry spokesperson told bdnews24.com.

“Pakistan government has withdrawn him following our report that he is engaged in criminal activities. He was also arrested by our agencies,” the spokesperson said.

“They (High Commission) notified us that he left on Jan 31,” the spokesperson said.

He clarified that “Mazhar was not a diplomat but an official in the High Commission”.

Pakistan High Commission could not be reached immediately for comments.

According Bangladesh media reports, Khan with some of his colleagues at the high commission used to route funds to Hizb ut-Tahrir, Ansarullah Bangla Team and the Jamaat-e-Islami.

As an ISI agent, he was reportedly also involved in anti-state subversive activities during his more than two years stay in Dhaka.

He was detained by Banani police on Jan 12 with one of his accomplices while having a secret meeting.

He was released soon after when a Pakistani diplomat Samina Mahtab intervened.

But his accomplice Mujibur Rahman, who remained in police custody, divulged some details of his currency forgery racket.

Police arrested four Pakistani as suspected militants in Nov last year from Chittagong.