Six arrested in Gilani’s kidnapping case

Islamabad: Six people were arrested on Thursday during an operation to trace the kidnapped son of former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani in Pakistan’s restive northwest.

Nowshera district police chief Waqar Ahmed told the media that Abdul Wahab had said that Ali Haider too had been held by the kidnappers at the same place. Ahmed said the raid was carried out after police gathered some “technical data” about the kidnappers.

“Wahab told us that another kidnapped man from Punjab, who said he was Prime Minister Gilani’s son and a candidate in the elections, was being held at the same place,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed said all the suspects detained by police were Afghan refugees. “We are conducting more raids. It is possible that they may have released Ali Haider and police would soon trace him,” he said.

The arrested persons were later taken from Nowshera to Peshawar.

Suspected militants kidnapped Ali Haider, 27, while he was campaigning for the May 11 polls in Multan.