A retired Pakistan Army officer, who is on a visit for a job interview, has gone missing from Lumbini since Thursday.

The Pakistani Embassy in Kathmandu has written to the Foreign Ministry of Nepal seeking assistance to find out his whereabouts, an official at the ministry said on Sunday, adding, “The ministry has forwarded the concern to the Home Ministry for necessary consideration.”

The officer, identified as retired Lt Col Mohammad Habib, has been untraceable after he last contacted his family on Thursday (April 6) afternoon soon after his arrival there and his phone numbers have not been reachable since.

Col Habib’s family reported his disappearance to the Foreign Office after not having been able to reach him. He is feared to have been abducted, Pakistani english daily Dawn has reported quoting a source.

The colonel, who reportedly retired from active army duties in October 2014, was currently employed with a private firm in Pakistan and had posted his CV online in search of employment. 

He had flown into Kathmandu by Oman Air on Thursday and was received by one Javad Ansari at the Tribhuvan International Airport  and reportedly left for Lumbini the same day.

Somebody by the name Mark Thomsan contacted Col Habib via email and telephone for a job interview in Nepal for which he was also provided an air ticket, the newspaper reported citing publicly available account of the events preceding to his disappearance.

Habib had applied for a job through a website but the website has been suspended along with its twitter handle after he went missing. 

Subsequent probing by his family and friends shows that the UK telephone number from which he had received telephone call for the interview was a computer-generated one, according to the Pakistani daily. 

Col Habib’s family reported his disappearance to the Foreign Ministry of Pakistani after they could not reach him despite numerous attempts. This has prompted concerns that he might have been abducted, the report says.