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Pakistan ex-PM's kidnapped son rescued in Afghanistan

Ali Haider Gilani in Multan on 9 May 2013, just before his abductionThe kidnapped son of Pakistan's ex-Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has been rescued in Afghanistan in a joint Afghan-US special forces operation.
Pakistani officials said Ali Haider Gilani would be transferred to Pakistan after undergoing medical checks.
Mr Gilani was abducted three years ago in his home town of Multan as he was campaigning in elections for the Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP).
The Afghan envoy to Pakistan said he was held by an al-Qaeda-linked group.
"He is well and will be repatriated to his family soon," Dr Omar Zakhilwal said on hisFacebook page.

Celebrations

Ali Haider Gilani, thought to be in his 30s, was rescued in a joint operation by Afghan and US forces in Ghazni, a province in eastern Afghanistan, officials said.
His brother, Ali Musa Gilani, said they had not dared to believe the rumours of his release until it was confirmed by the foreign ministry.
"Right now, we don't have any plans to celebrate. We are just waiting to see his face," he told Pakistan's Geo TV.
Television pictures showed celebrations in Multan, and at a party rally in Pakistan-administrated Kashmir, his father was seen surrounded by well-wishes.
The newly released captive has been taken to Bagram airbase in Afghanistan and will be transferred to Pakistan in a few hours, Geo reports.Ali Haider Gilani is the youngest son of Yusuf Raza Gilani, who was prime minister of Pakistan from 2008 until 2012.
He had been contesting a seat in the Punjab provincial assembly in the 2013 elections, when he was seized by gunmen who opened fire on a campaign rally in the May - just a few days before the polls opened.
Suspicion immediately fell on the Pakistani Taliban, which had been openly threatening the governing PPP and other secular parties in Pakistan in the run-up to the election.
Kidnapping has frequently been used as a tactic by militant groups across Pakistan, who want the ransom money for revenue and use the hostages as bargaining chips in negotiations with the authorities.
Yusuf Raza Gilani said last year that he had been allowed to speak to his son for several minutes by phone, and that the kidnappers wanted the release of several high-profile al-Qaeda prisoners.
In March, the kidnapped son of Pakistan governor Salman Taseer was found alive, nearly five years after his father was assassinated and he was seized in Lahore.
Shahbaz Tasser was recovered by counter-terrorism police in a compound north of Quetta, just a few days after his father's killer - his bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri - was hanged.

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