“THANK God it is a happy ending for the family,” said one well-wisher of Islamia College vice chancellor Ajmal Khan.

There are many other families who are praying for their ordeal to end soon and for their dear ones to return. Mr Khan, who arrived home on Thursday, had been held in captivity by the Taliban for four years.

There is no word on where he had been kept all this time — he told the media that he was unable to identify the area. There is little information on how the release was secured.

Such details do not matter to him or to those around him when their entire focus is on celebrating the long-awaited homecoming. Much as it is a desperate situation for others held hostage by the militants, Mr Khan’s return is a sign of hope.

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The biggest positive is that he is free, even when the passage of so much time had led to the projection of the gloomiest of scenarios. Moreover, for someone who went through the trauma of being held hostage for such a long period, he has come out of it remarkably composed.

Some of those who are still held were mentioned in a report in this paper on Saturday — a Swiss couple and a son of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who was abducted by militants in Multan on the eve of the general election last year. Lest he is forgotten and treated under the head of ‘collateral damage’ as a result of the fight against militancy, a few days ago the family of Shahbaz Taseer, son of the slain Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, reminded everyone that it has been three years since he was kidnapped from Lahore.

There are others missing and said to be in the militants’ custody. Because of the sensitivity of the matter, not much information is available on any effort being made for securing their release. That lack of information can be ignored so long as the promise of return is there.

Published in Dawn, August 31, 2014