In a joint intelligence-based operation in Balochistan on March 8, security agencies rescued Shahbaz Taseer – the abducted son of assassinated Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer – from the Kuchlak area in the suburbs of Quetta, officials said.
Shahbaz was abducted from the affluent Gulberg locality in Lahore in August 2011.
“He was found in a room at a compound close to Saleem Hotel in Kuchlak,” said Anwarul Haq Kakar, a spokesman for the Balochistan government. He said Shahbaz was “hale and hearty”, and had been sent to his hometown Lahore in a special aircraft from Quetta’s Khalid military airbase.
The spokesman for the army, Gen Asim Bajwa, tweeted photographs of Shahbaz after his recovery, and after his arrival in Lahore.
“Law enforcement agencies are taking all possible measures to arrest those involved in Taseer’s abduction. The captive’s recovery is a big breakthrough and demonstrates the government’s resolve to uphold the rule of law in the country,” said Anwarul Haq.
Officials say there were intelligence reports that Shahbaz Taseer had been taken to Kuchlak recently, and the captors were likely trying to hand him over to another party. But they failed.
A senior security official, Azmat Shahid, said the operation came after a “prodigious intelligence effort” by a special unit that had been carrying out surveillance in the area for days. “The kidnappers had no option but to release Shahbaz. They were surrounded and could not have left the site with their captive.” Intelligence agents found him “after receiving information that he was freed”.
Gen Bajwa also called it an intelligence achievement.
A source said Taseer had been moved from south Waziristan to Balochistan because his captors were feeling unsafe because of the ongoing military operation.
There were rumors that he had been killed in a drone strike.
Kuchlak is known as the hub of illegal Afghan immigrants. Several key Afghan Taliban leaders have been assassinated in the restive area in the last two years. The Quetta Shura of the Afghan Taliban is alleged to have lived in and operated from the town.
Security forces have conducted several other operations in Kuchlak and adjacent areas in the last few weeks. More than 100 suspects have been arrested in the “targeted operations”, according to the Balochistan Frontier Corps spokesman Khan Wasay.
The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has been accused of a number of abductions for ransom in Balochistan, and the abductors are known to have killed their captives when the ransom was not paid. Analysts say kidnapping for ransom is a major source of fundraising for Pakistani Taliban, who are accused of several high profile abdictions in Zhob, Pishin, Qila Saifullah, and Duki.
The Frontier Corps is also conducting an operation against Taliban militants in Zhob and nearby areas, and there are reports that a number of militant hideouts have been destroyed in a bid to stop militants from regrouping in the restive areas of the province.
Shahbaz was abducted from the affluent Gulberg locality in Lahore in August 2011.
“He was found in a room at a compound close to Saleem Hotel in Kuchlak,” said Anwarul Haq Kakar, a spokesman for the Balochistan government. He said Shahbaz was “hale and hearty”, and had been sent to his hometown Lahore in a special aircraft from Quetta’s Khalid military airbase.
The spokesman for the army, Gen Asim Bajwa, tweeted photographs of Shahbaz after his recovery, and after his arrival in Lahore.
“Law enforcement agencies are taking all possible measures to arrest those involved in Taseer’s abduction. The captive’s recovery is a big breakthrough and demonstrates the government’s resolve to uphold the rule of law in the country,” said Anwarul Haq.
Officials say there were intelligence reports that Shahbaz Taseer had been taken to Kuchlak recently, and the captors were likely trying to hand him over to another party. But they failed.
A senior security official, Azmat Shahid, said the operation came after a “prodigious intelligence effort” by a special unit that had been carrying out surveillance in the area for days. “The kidnappers had no option but to release Shahbaz. They were surrounded and could not have left the site with their captive.” Intelligence agents found him “after receiving information that he was freed”.
Kuchlak is a hub of illegal Afghan immigrants
Gen Bajwa also called it an intelligence achievement.
A source said Taseer had been moved from south Waziristan to Balochistan because his captors were feeling unsafe because of the ongoing military operation.
There were rumors that he had been killed in a drone strike.
Kuchlak is known as the hub of illegal Afghan immigrants. Several key Afghan Taliban leaders have been assassinated in the restive area in the last two years. The Quetta Shura of the Afghan Taliban is alleged to have lived in and operated from the town.
Security forces have conducted several other operations in Kuchlak and adjacent areas in the last few weeks. More than 100 suspects have been arrested in the “targeted operations”, according to the Balochistan Frontier Corps spokesman Khan Wasay.
The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has been accused of a number of abductions for ransom in Balochistan, and the abductors are known to have killed their captives when the ransom was not paid. Analysts say kidnapping for ransom is a major source of fundraising for Pakistani Taliban, who are accused of several high profile abdictions in Zhob, Pishin, Qila Saifullah, and Duki.
The Frontier Corps is also conducting an operation against Taliban militants in Zhob and nearby areas, and there are reports that a number of militant hideouts have been destroyed in a bid to stop militants from regrouping in the restive areas of the province.