Military cannot overcome all challenges alone: Ali Haider Gilani

All national institutions and the people have to work together to eradicate terrorism, Gilani scion says

MULTAN: Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's son Ali Haider Gilani said on Monday that the military could not single-handedly overcome all challenges confronting the nation.

The Gilani scion was speaking to journalists in Multan's Farrukh Town. He said all national institutions and the people had to work together to eradicate terrorism. Every single Pakistani has to strive on this account, Gilani said.

Gilani was recovered in a counter-terror raid by US and Afghan forces in eastern Afghanistan on May 10, 2016. He was abducted by militants in the outskirts of Multan on May 9 while campaigning in connection with the 2013 general elections.



Gilani said his recovery represented a victory for the entire nation. He reminisced about how he was taken away from Farrukh Town while his secretary and guard lost their lives protecting him. He recalled how he had been kidnapped just two days before the elections.

Gilani said his abductors had told him that they were affiliated with al-Qaeda. He said he was shifted to Faisalabad after being abducted.

The former prime minister's son said he was penning a book on his years in captivity. He said it would be published next year. Saying that life and death were in the hands of the Almighty, he said he was not afraid of remaining in Multan.



Gilani said the Pakistan Peoples Party would take a call on whether it wanted him to contest elections or not. He said he would comply with party directives on this account.

It was a drone strike in January that compelled al-Qaeda to handover Gilani to the Taliban. Soon after, Gilani was shifted across the border to Afghanistan in the wake of an army offensive.