How radio became Shahbaz Taseer’s light at the end of the tunnel during captivity

Shahbaz recalls how football commentary on BBC gave him peace during his almost five years in captivity

Days after Shahbaz Taseer received a signed jersey from his favourite football club, Manchester United, he recalls how BBC football commentary on a radio kept him 'living' during almost five years of militant captivity.

"I spent about a year-and-a-half with absolutely no news," Shahbaz said in an interview with BBC Sports. The son of slain Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, who was freed in March, said the radio become a blessing for him.

"I would look forward to every Saturday and Sunday for BBC Sports World- every week, for three years," the die-hard ManUtd fan said. "I can't explain it, but it gave me peace, it kept me sane."

"It’s the best possible thing that could have happened to someone in an unfortunate position as me at the time," Shahbaz said.



"The first news I received was that Colonel Gaddafi had died and it had already been a year-and-a-half," he recalled, saying he was shocked to hear the news given that his hometown of Lahore has a stadium named after the former Libyan ruler. "Following this, I then found out about Syria and what was happening in rest of the world."

Shahbaz revealed he wouldn't have heard about the world outside his four walls if it wasn't for his guard. "The news actually came to me because my guard was a ManUtd fan and what started off as small talk turned into realising that we're both 'crazy' ManUtd fans."

How I survived four and a half years in captivity

However, Shahbaz stated that his guard was not allowed to listen to the matches because "according to the group, it's a sin, hence prohibited in Islam”.

Delving into details, he went on to confess how desperate he was for any kind of news. "The guard needed a place to listen and what started off as sports news, turned into me hearing about news about various things around the world and it changed everything for me," he said.

The interview originally appeared on BBC.