Islamabad: Ali Haidar Gilani, son of former Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, kidnapped three years ago, was rescued in Afghanistan on Tuesday, the Afghan ambassador in Islamabad said.
In a signal that Washington and Kabul were working together against Pakistan-sponsored Taliban that operates freely on the Afghan-Pakistan border, Afghan and American officials said on Tuesday that United States Special Operations forces and Afghan commandos had carried out a joint raid against militants in the district of Giyan in Paktika Province that resulted in the recovery of Mr. Gilani.
Unidentified armed men had kidnapped Gilani in May 2013 from his home district of Multan, from a street corner meeting while campaigning during the polls. Two workers of Mr Gilani’s Pakistan People’s 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 Paktika Province Tuesday morning,” the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Dr Okmar Zakhilwal said.
No group had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, although in April 2014, a video showed Ali Haider Gilani saying that he was being held by a militant group, that was not part of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Reports said they were demanding Rs 2 billion in ransom.
Sources said local militants had been involved in the kidnapping who had taken him to the Pakistani tribal regions and later moved him to Afghanistan. He was now safely ensconced in Bagram airbase ahead of being flown home to Pakistan.
