at about the same time, in july 1971, fateh received a summons from the pakistan foreign ministry to attend a conference in tehran of regional pakistani ambassadors. he chose to take his official car ostensibly to drive to tehran but, as he and his driver approached the iran–iraq border, he feigned chest pains and ordered the driver to return him home, where he arrived that evening. saying that he would take a plane the next day, he dismissed the driver. that night, he fled with his wife and sons across the border into kuwait, where they were assisted by officials attached to the local indian embassy to take a plane to london.