Pakistan ex-PM’s kidnapped son rescued

Ali Haider Gilani, the son of former Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza 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 when he was busy in election campaign.

Two workers of Mr Gilani’s Pakistan People’s Party were killed in theabduction attempt. “Ali Haider Gilani was recovered from an Al Qaeda affiliated group in an operation by Afghan Special Forces in Ghanzi Province on Tuesday morning,” Afghan ambassador to Pakistan Dr Okmar Zakhilwal said. No group had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

In April 2014, a video showed Ali in the custody of a militant group not part of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Sources said local militants had taken him to the Pakistani tribal regions and later shifted to Afghanistan. “He (Ali) is well and will be repatriated to his family soon,” the Afghan envoy said in a statement.

“Ali Haider Gilani’s transfer to Pakistan is being arranged following required medical check-up,” a statement from the Afghan foreign ministry said.