It feels great to be home: Ali Haider Gilani

LAHORE: Ali Haider Gilani, thanked everyone who had prayed for his recovery, as he talked to the media on Thursday, two days after he was recovered from the Taliban in a joint operation by the Aghan and US forces at Afghanistan’s Ghazni province.

“I want to thank every one who prayed for my recovery, especially my friends and family in Multan. It was through your prayers that I am here with my family,” said Ali Haider, who was dressed in a Shalwar Kameez and had still not shaved off his beard.

“I was overwhelmed by the sort of welcome I received at home. The whole country celebrated,” said Ali Haider.

He added that it felt great to be home, united once again with his family.

When a reporter asked him to narrate his ordeal in captivity, he smiled and said, “That is a very long story.

On a question where he was asked if he will write a book over his experience he said, “I don’t have any such plans. At least for now.”

He was asked if he intends to shave off his beard or if he has become more religious after spending three years with the Taliban he said, “Even before the Taliban, I was very close to Allah.”

Speaking to the media, former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said, “Ali Haider’s recovery is a miracle. I would like to thank Afghan and US forces,” he said.

He added that he had received several phone calls by politicians who congratulated him on his son’s recovery.

Explaining why he was at the court when his son reached home he said, “There are 28 cases registered against me. I was not a direct beneficiary of the NRO but I am being politically victimized,” he said.

Recovered after three years in Taliban captivity

Three years after he was abducted by militants from his hometown Multan, Ali Haider, returned home to a a rapturous welcome at his family house in Lahore on Wednesday.

He was accompanied by his brother Qasim Gilani in a special aircraft that brought him to Lahore from Afghanistan, from where he was rescued on Tuesday by a joint force of Afghan and US commandos who attacked a house held by al Qaeda militants.

Emotional scenes were witnessed at the Lahore Airport when Ali Haider Gilani met his family after three long years in captivity. His mother, wife, son and brothers were there to receive him at the VIP lounge of the Allama Iqbal Airport.

Ali Haider was seized by suspected Taliban militants in a hail of gunfire on the outskirts of Multan on May 9, 2013, two days before the general elections in which he was campaigning.

Gunmen on a motorbike opened fire before abducting Ali Haider in a black Honda car. His secretary and a bodyguard were killed and four people wounded. Haider was contesting a seat in the Punjab provincial assembly.

In the three years he was abducted, Ali Haider was able to contact his family only once through an eight-minute telephone call on May 24, 2015.

His father, Yousuf Raza Gilani, was in Multan along with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who also spoke to Ali Gilani over the phone.

Gilani's recovery comes two months after Shahbaz Taseer, the son of slain former Punjab governor Salman Taseer, was freed.

Shahbaz Taseer was rescued from Balochistan in March this year, almost five years after he was kidnapped from Lahore on Aug 26, 2011.