Two gunmen riding a motorbike shot dead a Pakistani diplomat serving in the country’s consulate in Jalalabad city.
Credit: Pakistan Foreign Ministry
A Dawn newspaper report identified the dead diplomat as Nayyer Iqbal, citing media accounts that said Iqbal was shot six times.
He was returning home after offering evening prayers, according to the report. Iqbal, who belonged to eastern Pakistani city of Sialkot, worked in the consulate’s visa section.
A spokesman for Nanghar provincial government Attaullah Khogyani confirmed the media account. A postmortem examination will be performed on the victim in a Jalalabad hospital.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Islamabad condemned the killing of the Pakistani diplomat and urged Kabul to provide security to its diplomatic staff.
Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr. Mohammad Faisal said the Ministry summoned Afghan chare d’affaires to register Islamabad’s protest at the killing of the diplomatic official.
Afghan charge d’affaires summoned by the foreign secretary to protest the gruesome murder of Pakistani diplomatic official in Jalalabad.
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) November 6, 2017
The Pakistani consulate came under attack in Jalalabad a few years ago. The city has been a scene of deadly bombings for the past several years.
Meanwhile, relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan remain frayed as both continue to trade allegations of harboring militant groups that carry out cross-border attacks in the two countries.
Muhammad Luqman is Associate Editor at Views News Now. He writes on wide-ranging issues including economy, South Asia, the Middle East, agriculture, economy and innovation. Luqman has worked some of the leading news organizations and won acclaim for his original and research-based works.
