Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on November 15 ordered an investigation into the death of a high-ranking police officer whose body was found dead in eastern Afghanistan.
The body of Tahir Dawar was found by locals in Dur Baba district of Nangarhar Province near the Pakistani border on November 13, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs quoted Afghan authorities as saying.
Dawar, 50, disappeared on October 27 in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. He had been serving as head of the Peshawar police’s rural circle.
Khan said he had ordered authorities to carry out "an inquiry immediately," while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had twice summoned the Afghan charge d'affaires in Islamabad to "seek clarity."
Dawar’s “abduction, move to [Afghanistan], murder and follow up behavior of [Afghan] authorities raise questions which indicate involvement or resources more than a terrorist organization in Afghanistan," Pakistani military spokesman Major General Asif Ghrafoor tweeted.
Afghan officials were not immediately available for comment.
Dawar’s body was delivered to tribal elders near the Pakistani border on November 15 before being taken to Peshawar.
Pictures circulated on social media on November 13 appeared to show his badly tortured body with a hand-written Pashto letter placed on his chest, purportedly written by Wilayat Khorasan, a name used by the militant Islamic State affiliate that operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Pakistani Senate discussed the apparent murder in its session in Islamabad on November 14-15. Opposition parties criticized the federal government for failing to protect the police officers and claimed authorities did not investigate the case properly.
Meanwhile, supporters of the Pashtun Protection Movement (PTM) protested in several Pakistani cities to denounce Dawar’s apparent killing.
The demonstrators also chanted slogans against the Pakistani army, which the group accuses of conducting heavy-handed operations in the militancy-hit tribal regions.
With reporting by Reuters