Kidnapped: Trader returns home after 19 months

LAHORE: The son-in-law of former Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) chairman General (retd) Tariq Majeed returned home on Thursday, police officials told The Express Tribune. Amir Malik Aftab had been kidnapped on August, 25, 2010. An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Tribune that Malik had been held by Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. The Counter Terrorism Department officer said it was probable that the family had paid ransom for Amir’s safe return. Aftab, president of the Barkat Market and Garden Town Traders Union, was kidnapped on his way home from an Iftar reception. His kidnappers had released a videotape a few months later in which Aftab had told his family that his kidnappers wanted Rs130 million in ransom as well as release of 153 militants being held across Pakistan.  Aftab Malik, Amir’s father, told reporters that the family was relieved to see Amir. The entire family had suffered in Amir’s absence, Malik said, “because we did not know what would happen”. He did not comment on whether the family had paid a ransom to secure his son’s release.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2012.