Shahbaz Taseer
The kidnapped son of a liberal Pakistani governor assassinated by his bodyguard was found, senior officials said yesterday, just over a week after his father’s killer was hanged.
Shahbaz Taseer is in “feeble” health, said Aitzaz Goraya, head of the Counter-Terrorism Department of southwestern Balochistan province, where he was found after a police raid.
Taseer had been abducted by Islamist gunmen from the city of Lahore in August 2011, months after his father Salmaan was killed for opposing the country’s controversial blasphemy laws.
The governor’s assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, was hanged on February 29.
The Pakistani Taliban have never officially confirmed their involvement, but a militant source told AFP Tuesday that a military operation in the tribal areas had made it “difficult” for the group to keep him.
“That’s why they preferred to set him free,” the source said.
Militant commanders have privately said in the past Taseer was being kept somewhere in the tribal areas of North and South Waziristan. The source yesterday said he was moved after Operation Zarb-e-Azb was launched in North Waziristan in 2014.
“Acting on a tip off, intelligence forces and police went to a compound in the Kuchlak district some 25 kilometres north of Quetta” in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, Goraya said.
“We surrounded the compound and we raided it. We didn’t find anyone. A single person was there and he told us my name is Shahbaz and my father’s name is Salmaan Taseer.”
Anwarul Haq Kakar, spokesman for the Balochistan government, told the private TV channel 92 news: “I can confirm that Shahbaz Taseer has been safely recovered. He is in safe hands.”
Last week Pakistan hanged Mumtaz Qadri, the police bodyguard who shot the governor 28 times in Islamabad in January 2011.
Analysts described the execution as a key moment in Pakistan’s long fight against militancy, saying it demonstrated the government’s resolve to uphold the rule of law rather than allow extremism to flourish.
The governor had called for reforms to the country’s controversial blasphemy law, which carries the death penalty. Critics say the law is largely misused, with hundreds languishing in jails under false charges.
But Qadri was hailed as a hero by many conservatives eager to drown out calls to soften the legislation.
His execution on February 29 saw protests across Pakistan and his funeral the next day brought up to 100,000 supporters onto the streets near his home in Rawalpindi, highlighting the country’s deep religious divide.
Shabaz Taseer’s brother Shehryar said on Twitter the hanging was a victory for Pakistan, but not his family.
“The safe return of my brother is the only victory my family wants,” he wrote.
Shahbaz Taseer’s father-in-law Salman Ghani also confirmed his freedom to AFP, but did not give any details.
A second militant source said the Taliban had been demanding up to Rs2bn ($20mn) for his release.
Security analyst Imtiaz Gul said it was possible a ransom had been paid and that Taseer had been abandoned by his abductors once they received the money.
The Pakistani Taliban “are a group of mercenaries with clear links to organised crime”, he said.
