Islamabad, Aug 16: A Toronto-based Pakistani diplomat, Naeem Ahmed, sought political asylum in Canada after he was recently transferred to Islamabad, the Canadian government has informed Pakistan. Ahmed, vice-consul at Pakistan's Consulate General office in Toronto, formally applied for asylum early this week, after he was recalled midway during his three-year posting, Pakistan daily 'Dawn' said in a report from Toronto.
The report, however, did not disclose the reason for Ahmed seeking political asylum.
Pakistan Consul-General in Toronto, Ghalib Iqbal, declined to offer any comment saying, "I know this much that Naeem was in the process of winding up and returning home."
Canada has conveyed Ahmed's decision to Pakistan government through diplomatic channels.
Ahmed is the second Pakistani diplomat in recent years to seek asylum abroad. In 1994, the press counsellor at the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, Malik Zahoor Ahmed, had refused to return and applied for political asylum in the US.
He was re-instated and re-appointed as press counsellor in the embassy during the tenure of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Bureau Report