Islamabad: Former Pakistan Foreign Secretary Niaz A Naik, who was involved in back-channel diplomacy with India during the 1999 Kargil conflict, was found murdered at his residence, police said on Saturday.
Naik's body was found in his home in the heart of the Pakistani capital and bore marks of torture, a turnaround from a police spokesman's earlier statement that there were no marks of injury on the former diplomat's body.
Seventy-year-old Naik was unmarried and was living alone in his house in a neighbourhood in central Islamabad for a long time.
A post-mortem examination of Naik's body revealed he was tortured before being killed, the doctors who performed the autopsy told police officials.
Naik was hit with a sharp and heavy object and there were signs of torture on his neck. Four ribs and the jaw were fractured and the lungs were damaged, the autopsy report said.
Naik, who also served as High Commissioner to India and was involved in back-channel diplomacy during the Kargil conflict of 1999, apparently died three to four days ago, police said. Police officials said they were trying to ascertain the motive behind the murder.
The former diplomat was involved in back-channel parleys with R K Mishra, an aide of then Indian premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee, during the Kargil war.
Reports at the time had suggested the two sides had come close to a deal to end the conflict in June 1999.
President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, former premier and opposition PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi condoled Naik's death.
They also paid tribute to him for his services to Pakistan over the years.
Comments
0 comment