ISLAMABAD // Afghan and international forces freed the kidnapped son of a former Pakistani prime minister during a raid on an Al Qaeda cell in Afghanistan, Islamabad and Kabul said on Tuesday.
The rescue came three years after Ali Haider Gilani was kidnapped in a hail of bullets.
The son of Yousaf Raza Gilani was now at the Pakistani embassy in Kabul, said the Afghan presidency.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said the younger Gilani was rescued in a joint operation carried out by the Afghan and US security forces.
Preparations are being made to return him to Pakistan following a medical check-up, the ministry said without further details.
Former premier Yousaf Raza Gilani broke the news to a cheering crowd at a political rally in Pakistani-held Kashmir yesterday.
“This rally has proved fortunate for me,” he said.
“When I was about to board the helicopter I received the information that my son Ali Haider Gilani, who was kidnapped three years ago, has been recovered.”
Hundreds of people converged on the family’s home in Multan in central Punjab province as the news broke, dancing to drumbeats and passing around sweets in celebration.
Abdul Qadir Gilani, the brother of the kidnap victim, said he was “so happy today that I can’t explain it in words”.
“He is still in Afghanistan and soon he will be among us,” he said of his brother. Abdul Qadir said he believed his father had travelled to Afghanistan when he heard the news.
“God has accepted somebody’s prayer. The prayer of those who love us,” said another brother, Ali Musa.
Nato officials in Kabul were unable to immediately confirm the Pakistani statement.
“We are aware of the report,” said a spokesman for the Nato-led international coalition in Afghanistan. He said more details would be provided when they were available.
There were conflicting statements from Pakistani and Afghan officials over where the raid took place, whether in the eastern province of Ghazni or in neighbouring Paktia.
Provincial officials in Ghazni were also unable to provide immediate confirmation or details.
Mr Gilani was kidnapped by militants in the outskirts of Multan on May 9, 2013, just two days before a bitterly contested national election in which he was campaigning.
Gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire before abducting him in a black Honda car. His secretary and a bodyguard were killed, and four people wounded.
In May last year he was able to phone his father to tell him that he was well.
The former premier’s family is one of the most powerful in Multan and a key clan in the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which lost the 2013 election.
The foreign ministry’s statement came two months after the kidnapped son of another Pakistani politician was also freed.
Shahbaz Taseer, son of the slain Punjabi governor Salman Taseer, spent five years in militant captivity before his abrupt release in March.
“Welcome back @haidergilani,” Shahbaz Taseer said on Twitter on Tuesday, adding an image of the Pakistani flag.
Bilawal Bhutto, chairman of the PPP and son of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, also wrote about Mr Gilani’s rescue on Twitter.
“PM @YR_Gillani received call from ambassador of Afghanistan.His son @haidergilani has been recovered in a successful operation,” he wrote.
Mr Gilani was Pakistan’s prime minister from March 2008 until he was sacked and indicted by the supreme court in April 2012 for refusing to reopen corruption cases against Asif Ali Zardari, the country’s president at the time.
He had complained after the kidnapping that his family was not given security despite being threatened.
* Associated Press
