Pakistani forces recover kidnapped son of senior judge

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – In a pre-dawn raid on Tuesday, Pakistani forces recovered the son of a senior provincial judge who was kidnapped by Taliban militants last month.

Army spokesman Lt General Asim Saleem Bajwa told reporters in the capital Islamabad that Owais Shah, a young lawyer and son of the Chief Justice of Sindh High Court Syed Sajjad Ali Shah, was recovered near the Afghan border when his captors were trying to smuggle him out of Pakistan.

Three militants were killed in the operation and Shah was transported on an army plane to his hometown Karachi, TV pictures showed an emotional reunion with this father and family.

Lt General Bajwa confirmed the captors had made demands for Shah's release but did not reveal specifics. He said the intelligence agencies had found Al-Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban links to the kidnapping.

The Taliban have been forced from their former stronghold in the northwestern North Waziristan region by a military operation and have responded by kidnapping high-profile personalities in order to demand their own leaders are released in exchange.

In the last three months, US and Afghan security forces recovered the sons of former Pakistani prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and slain Punjab province governor Salman Taseer from captivity by the Taliban in Afghanistan.