Tehran, July 05: Iran has urged Pakistan to speed up its efforts for the release of its kidnapped commercial attaché Heshmatollah Attarzadeh Niyaki.
During a meeting with Interior Ministry Chief Rehman Malik, the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan Mashaallah Shakeri expressed concerns over the slow progress made by Pakistani security agencies for the release of the missing Iranian diplomat who was kidnapped some seven and a half months ago from the provincial capital Peshawar of troubled north western Pakistan.
“Pakistani officials have once again assured us of the immediate and safe release of Heshmatollah Attarzadeh Niyaki,” Shakeri told a Press TV correspondent in Islamabad late on Saturday.
However, the Iranian official said that no time frame has been given by Pakistani officials for securing the release of the missing diplomat.
In November last year, Shakeri had said that “Attarzadeh Niyaki is alive and in good health.”
Iran’s commercial attaché was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in an ambush on November 13 last year, while on his way to the Iranian consulate in the Pakistani city of Peshawar. His driver was killed in the attack.
Pakistani authorities had claimed receiving information about the whereabouts of those who had kidnapped the Iranian envoy but no progress has been made in the course of releasing the missing diplomat.
—–Agencies