Former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s son Ali Haider Gilani was handed over to Pakistan by Afghan officials on Wednesday, Geo News reported.

The Afghan defense minister handed over Ali Haider to the Pakistan ambassador in Kabul Abrar Hussain, the Pakistan foreign office said.

Pictures released by the foreign office showed a happy and apparently healthy Ali Haider.

Ali Haider will reach Lahore in a special aircraft. He is accompanied by his brother Qasim Gilani.

He was recovered in a joint operation by Afghan and US forces in Ghazni on Tuesday, three years after he was kidnapped from a pre-election rally in Multan.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s office said Afghan security forces defeated an Al Qaeda cell in a joint operation with international forces, and suggested that the discovery of Gilani may have been accidental.

“During this anti-insurgency operation, Ali Haider Gilani...was identified at the site of the operation, and was freed from terrorists,” a spokesperson said.

The news was first broken by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in a tweet.

Former PM Yousuf Raza was on his way to a Pakistan People’s Party rally at Bagh Azad Kashmir on Tuesday when he received a phone call from the Afghan foreign office. He then talked to his son. “I talked to my son while I was on my way,” said Gilani, addressing the rally.

Source: MENA