This photograph taken on January 5, 2011, shows Shahbaz Taseer, son of assassinated governor of Pakistan's Punjab province Salman Taseer, speaking with media during his father's funeral in Lahore. (AFP Photo)
Highlights
- Shahbaz Taseer found alive 5 years after being kidnapped in Pakistan
- Taseer in 'feeble' health, was found during a police raid in Balochistan
- He was kidnapped after his father,Salmaan Taseer,was assassinated in 2011
The kidnapped son of a liberal Pakistani governor assassinated by his bodyguard has been found, senior officials said today, 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 officials said he was found after a police raid.
Shahbaz had been kidnapped by gunmen from Lahore in August 2011, months after his father Salmaan Taseer 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 in the kidnapping, but a militant source told Agence France-Presse today that an army 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.
Terrorist commanders have privately told AFP in the past Shahbaz was being kept somewhere in the tribal areas of North and South Waziristan. The source today 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 Balochistan, 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."
It was not immediately clear when Shahbaz had been found.
'Qadri's Execution 'Key Moment'Mumtaz Qadri, the police bodyguard who shot the governor 28 times in Islamabad in 2011, was hanged last week in what analysts said was a "key moment" in Pakistan's long fight against militancy.
It demonstrated the state's willingness to uphold the rule of law against extremism, observers said.
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 $20 million for Shahbaz's release.
Security analyst Imtiaz Gul said it was possible a ransom had been paid and that Shahbaz 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.
Former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who belonged to the same Pakistan People's Party as Salmaan Taseer and whose own son was kidnapped by suspected Taliban militants in May 2013, told Geo News: "It is a very big day for Salman's family."
He added: "After this release, I am very hopeful that my own son will be freed."