NIA has put former Pakistani diplomat Amir Zubar on its ‘wanted list’

In the first such incident ever, India’s National Investigative Agency (NIA) has put a former Pakistani diplomat on its ‘wanted list’ and released a photo seeking information about him. The official has been identified as Amir Zubair Siddique who was posted as visa counsellor at Pakistan’s High Commission in Colombo. According to the NIA, Amir was involved in conspiring to launch 26/11 type terror attacks at US and Israel consulates in India and is also alleged to have conspired to target defence installations in southern India in 2014 by hiring Sri Lankan nationals, ANI reported.

Apart from Amir, there are two more names of Pakistani officials included by the NIA in its ‘wanted list’. The agency said that a fourth Pakistani official posted at the High Commission in Colombo was also involved in conspiring to launch terror attacks. According to a Times of India report, the identities of the remaining three officials are yet to be ascertained. However, the two who have been included in the ‘wanted list’ are said to be Pakistani intelligence officials. While one went his alias ‘Vineeth’, another was codenamed ‘Boos alias Shah’, the report said.

National Investigation Agency (NIA) has put a Pakistani diplomat on its wanted list and released his photo, seeking information. pic.twitter.com/mqNXhB0ojU — ANI (@ANI) April 9, 2018

The development comes as NIA prepares to send a request to the Interpol to issue red corner notices against the three Pakistani officials. A red corner notice is issued for a wanted person to extradite him. The NIA had chargesheeted Amir in February. All the officials are believed to be repatriated to Islamabad, the TOI report said.

The NIA said that Amir had served in Colombo between 2009 and 2016. During his stay here, Amit had allegedly conspired to attack vital defence and nuclear installations in southern India by hiring Sri Lankan agents. He had allegedly hired Sri Lankan nationals Muhammed Shaik Hassaien and others to execute his plans. He had also hired Arun Selvaraj, Sivabalan, Thameen Ansari and others. All were arrested by agencies in India, the Time Of India report said.

The NIA said that after hiring them, Amir had asked them to click photographs of vital installations and track the movement of security forces. He had also directed them to steal laptops of Indian Army officials to extract information and pump fake currency notes into the economy. The agency said that Amir had also planned to target the US Consulate in Chennai and Israeli consulate in Bengaluru. Besides the Easter Naval Command was also on his radar.

This is for the first time when India has put Pakistani officials on the ‘wanted list’ or sought red corner notices against them from the Interpol.