LAHORE: Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday said that release of his son Ali Haider Gilani after three years from captivity is not less than a miracle.
Talking to journalists, he said that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has telephoned him to convey felicitations over release of his son. “He (the chief minister) will visit my residence in Multan as he told me,” he said.
“I am thankful to the US-Afghan military forces for conducting military operation to recover my son,” he also said. “Ali Gilani was rescued in Giyan district of Paktika province by US special operations forces and Afghan commandos in a partnered raid,” the Afghan media quoted a statement by USFOR-A as saying.
On Wednesday, Ali Gillani revealed that he was kept in Faisalabad for two months soon after his abduction from Multan, his hometown in southern Punjab. “They (the abductors) shifted me to Afghanistan after keeping in Faisalabad for about two months,” he said. He also said that four terrorists were killed during the joint military operation of the US-Afghan forces to free him from his captors.
Ali Gilani was handed over to Pakistan’s Ambassador Ibrar Hussain during a ceremony in Kabul. He returned home after three-year captivity in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had sent his special aircraft to Kabul to bring the young Gilani back home. Members of the Gilani family received Ali Gilani at the airport amidst tears of happiness as they hugged and cheered.
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