ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Friday that the government had received a video showing the abducted son of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in chains.

He disclosed this while talking to reporters at his Parliament House chamber.

According to an official, the video shows Ali Haider Gilani saying he was not in custody of a group under the control of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and regretting that his family was not doing anything seriously for his release.

Haider Gilani said the kidnappers were initially demanding Rs2 billion for his release but now reduced the demand to Rs500 million, adding that he would be killed if the payment was not made within a month.

A spokesman for the interior ministry said the government had not received the video directly from the kidnappers and, therefore, it was inappropriate to attribute its details to the minister. He said the government believed that most of the contents of the video were contrary to facts.

Another official said the release of the video now might be a gimmick. According to him, during a meeting with members of the government committee, the TTP negotiators said the Taliban leadership had neither denied nor confirmed that Haider Gilani was in their custody, but described him as a ‘combatant prisoner’ on the ground that his father’s government had imposed a war on them.

At this, the TTP committee was told that by this standard the non-combatant Taliban freed by the government as a goodwill gesture also did not qualify to be released because their forefathers were involved in fighting against the government.

The official said that a list containing the names of non-combatant prisoners in Taliban custody, including Haider Gilani, would be handed over during the next round of direct talks with the TTP shura likely to be held next week.

Haider Gilani was kidnapped from outside a PPP office in Multan on May 9, 2013.