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Kidnapped son of Pakistan's ex-PM recovered in Afghanistan

Xinhua, May 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

Ali Haidar Gilani, the son of Pakistan former Prime Minister Yusuf Reza Gilani, who was kidnapped three years ago was recovered in Afghanistan on Tuesday, the Afghan ambassador in Islamabad and the Foreign Ministry said.

Unidentified armed men had kidnapped Ali Haider Gilani in May 2013 from his home district of Multan in Punjab province when he was busy in election campaign. Two workers of Gilani's Pakistan Peoples Party were killed in the kidnapping attempt.

"Ali Haider Gilani was recovered from an Al-Qaeda affiliated group in an operation by Afghan Special Forces in Ghanzi Province Tuesday morning, the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan Okmar Zakhilwal said.

No group had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

In April 2014, in a video, Ali Haider Gilani disclosed that he is in custody of a militant group not part of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Sources said local militants had been involved in the kidnapping who had taken him to the Pakistani tribal regions and later shifted to Afghanistan.

"He (Gilani) is well and will be repatriated to his family soon," the Afghan envoy said in a statement.

He said he called Yusuf Reza Gilani and informed him about the good news and that he was ecstatically delighted as expected and grateful of President Ashraf Ghani's personal attention to his son's safe release.

The former Prime Minister also thanked the Afghan Security Forces for bringing a happy ending to a dreadful family saga for them.

The Afghan National Security Adviser, Hanif Atmar, in a telephone call to the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, informed that Ali Haider Gilani has been recovered in a joint operation carried out by the Afghan and US security forces in Ghazni, Afghanistan, the Foreign Ministry said.

"Mr. Ali Haider Geelani's transfer to Pakistan is being arranged following required medical check-up," the statement said.

Pakistani officials had earlier said the captors had demanded two billion rupees in ransom and warned that they would kill him if their demand was not met. Endit