The Afghan National Security Adviser, Mohammad Hanif Atmar, in a telephone call to the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, informed that Ali Haider Gilani has been recovered today in a joint operation carried out by the Afghan and United States security forces in Ghazni, Afghanistan.
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Preparations are being made to return him to Pakistan following a medical check-up, it said, but offered no further detail. The U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation force in Afghanistan said it was aware of the reports but would not comment on them.
In a separate statement posted on Facebook, Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Omar Zakhilwal, said Ali Haider was freed “in an operation by Afghan Special Forces in Ghazni province this (Tuesday) morning”.
Ali Haider Gilani’s brother Abdul Qadir Gilani told AFP that his father was in Afghanistan.
Police at the time said the candidate for the Punjab provincial assembly was seized on the outskirts of the city of Multan in the province.
Gunmen kidnapped the younger Gilani in May 2013, several days before the general elections in Pakistan.
The Prime Minister appreciated the patience and courage demonstrated by the Gilani family ever since the kidnapping of Haider Gilani during the last three years.
Shahbaz Taseer, son of slain Punjabi governor Salman Taseer, spent five years in captivity before his abrupt release in March.
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Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, which the Gilanis have been associated for decades, tweeted his congratulations soon after the news was announced.
