Ex-Pak PM Gilani's kidnapped son recovered from Afghanistan

Islamabad, May 10: Former Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's kidnapped son was today recovered from Afghanistan in a joint operation carried out by the US and Afghan forces, three years after he was abducted by suspected Taliban militants.

Ali Haider Gilani, son of ex-premier Gilani, has been recovered from Afghanistan's Ghazni province, Pakistan's Foreign Office said in a statement.

"The Afghan National Security Adviser, Mr Mohammad Hanif Atmar, in a telephone call to the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Mr Sartaj Aziz, informed that Mr Ali Haider Gilani son of Mr Yusuf Raza Gilani...has been recovered today in a joint operation carried out by the Afghan and US security forces in Ghazni," the statement said.

Ali's transfer to Pakistan is being arranged following a required medical check-up, it said. Ali's recovery from Afghanistan was also announced by Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Twitter.

Former premier Gilani received a call from the ambassador of Afghanistan to Pakistan, informing him that Ali was recovered in a successful operation in Afghanistan, Bilawal said. Ali was kidnapped by gunmen in Multan on May 9, 2013.

He was abducted when he was leaving a street corner meeting outside the house of a supporter in Multan's Farrukh Town.

His two associates were killed during the kidnapping. At the time of the abduction, Ali was contesting for the general election from a constituency in Multan.

Ali's rescue comes over two months after the recovery of Shahbaz Taseer, son of slain Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, who was found by security and intelligence forces from Balochistan's Kuchlak area nearly five years after his abduction in 2011.

Shahbaz was kidnapped from Lahore on August 26, 2011, near his company's head office in Gulberg area.

PTI