QUETTA: Asad Khan Tareen, son of Balochistan’s Minister for Local Government Sardar Mustafa Tareen, who was kidnapped over three months ago, was recovered from an area of Qila Abdulla district close to the Pak-Afghan border on Thursday evening.

Armed men kidnapped Asad Tareen in Pishin town on May 21 when he was returning from Cadet College Pishin where he works as a warden. He was reportedly taken across the border in Afghanistan.

According to sources, Asad Tareen’s release is not the outcome of a security forces’ operation. His kidnappers had released him, but it was not clear on what conditions, they added.

They said the kidnappers released him in the Dolangi area close to the Pak-Afghan border, some 85km off Qila Abdullah district’s Gulistan town, from where he contacted his father. Mustafa Tareen along with Pishin Deputy Commissioner Abdul Wahid Kakar and personnel of Levies force rushed to the area to receive his son.

Confirming his release, family members said that Asad had been brought to Pishin amid tight security.

He was safe and sound, an official of the Pishin administration told Dawn.

After receiving information about his release, thousands of people, including tribal elders and workers and leaders of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) reached the residence of Mustafa Tareen in Pishin.

Mustafa Tareen is the chieftain of the Tareen tribe and a leader of PkMAP.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2016