US and Afghan forces have found the kidnapped son of former Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani alive in an operation in Afghanistan, the Foreign Office said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Afghan National Security Adviser, Mohammad 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 today in a joint operation carried out by the Afghan and US security forces in Ghazni, Afghanistan.
Ali Haider Gilani’s transfer to Pakistan is being arranged following required medical check-up, the FO stated.
The news of his release was also confirmed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
PM @YR_Gillani received call from ambassador of Afghanistan.His son @haidergilani has been recovered in a successful operation.Alhamdulillah
Ali Gilani, candidate for a provincial assembly seat in the district of Multan, was attending an election event in the town of Multan on May 9, 2013 when the gunmen pulled up, started shooting, grabbed and threw him into a vehicle and drove off.
He has been released few weeks after the kidnapped son of slain governor Salman Taseer was reunited with his family.
Shahbaz Taseer had been abducted by gunmen from Lahore in August 2011, months after his father was killed for opposing the country‘s blasphemy laws.
On March 8, authorities announced they raided a compound in the Kuchlak district of restive southwestern Balochistan province, where they found Taseer alone.
