Islamabad: Ali Haider Gilani, son of former Pakistani prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, has been recovered from Afghanistan’s Ghazni province in a joint operation conducted by the Afghan and the US forces. Gilani’s recovery was first announced by Pakistan Peoples Party(PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and later confirmed from the Foreign Office, reports Dawn.
Gilani is reported to be safe and in good health and arrangements are being made to bring him back to his country. Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, was soon conveyed the news by the Afghan National Security Adviser.
Bilawal said that former premier Gilani received a call from the ambassador of Afghanistan to Pakistan, informing him about his son’s recovery in a successful operation in Afghanistan. Ali Haider was kidnapped by gunmen in Multan’s Farrukh Town on May 9, 2013, days before he was slated to run for the Punjab Assembly from PPP-200 constituency.
In the kidnapping two of his associates were killed. His family is one of the most powerful in Multan and a key clan in the PPP, whose campaign for re-election had been dramatically curtailed by Tehrik-i-Taliban threats at the time.