Disaster struck former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s family when his youngest son, Ali Haider Gilani, was kidnapped in broad daylight on Thursday.
Witnesses to the bold kidnapping said that armed gunmen opened fire at an election convoy of Ali Haider Gilani as it was departing from a corner meeting. They pushed the young Pakistan People’s Party candidate of the provincial assembly from PP-200, who was walking out of the meeting into a waiting car, and opened fire at his guards. Gilani’s secretary Mohyuddin Bhutta and gunman Qaswar Dharala were killed while five others were injured in the brazen attack. Ali Haider Gilani was then driven away.
Multan Chief Police Officer (CPO) Ghulam Mehmood Dogar later told reporters that a black car and a motorcycle were used by the kidnappers. The police called it an act of terrorism.
Dogar said that entry and exit points of the city and adjoining districts had been sealed to arrest the culprits.
Police officials told a private TV channel that the target of the attack was Yousaf Raza Gilani, who was also present at the meeting. The gunmen kidnapped his son on being unable to kill the former prime minister.
THE ELECTION MUST GO ON
Following his son’s kidnapping, PPP central leader and former premier Yousaf Raza Gilani announced that polls would not be boycotted despite the horrific nature of pre-poll targeting his family had faced.
Addressing reporters, Yousaf Raza Gilani condemned his son’s kidnapping and said that the elections were his national obligation and would not be boycotted.
The visibly distraught former prime minister said his family would not be asking for extra security in the wake of the attack. He added that it was obvious that PPP was being denied a fair playing field in the much-anticipated elections.
GILANI BROTHERS THREATEN TO HOLD ELECTION HOSTAGE
Earlier, an emotional Ali Musa Gilani said the PPP would not let elections take place in any constituency of Multan if his younger sibling Ali Haider was not traced and recovered before the day was up.
Abdul Qadir Gilani, the former PM’s eldest son, also shared the same opinion and said his party had been deprived of all security measures despite direct threats from the Taliban.
MULTAN’S JIYALAS PROTEST
When news of the kidnapping broke, the PPP’s workers took to the streets, protesting their leader’s kidnapping and demanding his recovery as soon as possible.
They said that Gilani had informed the district administration and the government of receiving death and kidnapping threats from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
PAKISTAN’S LEADERSHIP REACTS
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso condemned Ali Haider’s kidnapping in a telephonic conversation with the former prime minister.
They deemed the attack “cowardly” and “incomprehensible”.
Zardari said that the democratic process would not be derailed with such attacks.
Spokesperson to the president Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the president also called upon the relevant government agencies to take action to recover the kidnapped Gilani safely and bring the culprits to book.