Lahore : Pakistan’s former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said he had spoken to his son Ali Haider for the first time since he was kidnapped by a Taliban group in 2013 and is now being held in Afghanistan.
“Today I received a telephone call from an unknown number. It was from my abducted son Haider. He told me that he was well and inquired about the other family members,” Gilani told reporters.
“We spoke about eight minutes,” he said, expressing hope for safe recovery of his son. Ali Haider was kidnapped by gunmen in Multan, Gilani’s hometown, two days before the May 11, 2013 general election. Earlier, Gilani said that the kidnappers of his son had never demanded ransom. “They are interested only in securing release of high profile prisoners. They want release of certain prisoners from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi and according to my information a few of them have been recently freed by the government. But it has failed to secure the release of my son, or of Shahbaz Taseer, the son of slain Punjab governor Salman Taseer, and other innocent captives in return,” Gilani said.
The PML-N government had also received a video showing Haider in chains and saying that he was in captivity of a group which was not under the control of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. Haider said in the video that the kidnappers were initially demanding Rs 2 billion for his release but have now reduced the ransom amount to Rs 500 million.
M Zulqernain
