KARACHI: A month after their mysterious disappearance from Jamshoro and Karachi, two close aides to Pakistan Peoples Party leader Asif Zardari were recovered by a team of the Karachi police in a remote area of Balochistan on Sunday, according to police.

Ashfaq Leghari and Ghulam Qadir Marri went “missing” in the first week of April and the PPP, which lodged a series of protests against their disappearance, implied that they had been taken into custody by intelligence agencies.

In its immediate reaction to the recovery of Mr Leghari and Mr Marri, the PPP denied that their release had come through a “deal”.

While senior police officials in Karachi remained tight-lipped about the development, a brief statement released by the police said the Anti-Violent-Crime Cell (AVCC) — a wing of the Karachi police — with the active support of intelligence agencies recovered two high-profile kidnap victims, Mr Leghari and Mr Marri, as well as their two drivers and a guard from Mand in Kech district of Balochistan.

Turbat deputy commissioner denies any police action took place in the Mand area

But, Turbat Deputy Commis­sioner retired Captain Sarmad Saleem Akram said that no police action leading to the recovery of the “missing” duo had taken place in Mand.

The local administration had informed the Balochistan government in writing that neither the Sindh police nor any security agency had conducted any operation in Kech district, the DC said, adding that there was no truth in such reports.

The AVCC statement said that “the agencies helped in tracking and cornering of kidnappers and after hard negotiations the kidnap victims were freed”.

It said that the kidnappers had made a ransom call for Mr Leghari and intelligence agencies found vital leads by analysing that call. The support of intelligence agencies in Balochistan was very vital in solving the matter, they added.

“The abductees are now in the custody of the AVCC and will be allowed to go (home) after completion of legal formalities.”

The statement, however, did not mention anything about the kidnappers or whether any of them was arrested or not.

Senior PPP leader Senator Saeed Ghani was speaking at a press conference when the news of the recovery of Mr Leghari and Mr Marri were flashed by TV channels. Asked whether their release was part of some deal since the PPP had earlier repeatedly alleged that the two had been picked up by law enforcement agencies, Mr Ghani said that the PPP had never directly blamed law enforcement agencies and only said that the way the two were whisked away suggested it was the handiwork of some law enforcers. “There is no deal [involved]...it is the responsibility of the law enforcement agencies to trace the missing persons and it is good if they have found them.”

On April 3, Mr Leghari, said to be working for the Omni group’s Dubai office, went missing while going to Larkana to attend Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s death anniversary. His car was found abandoned on Super Highway near the Gadap area. His daughter had filed a petition in the Sindh High Court in which she feared that her father had been illegally detained by law enforcement agencies.

A few days later, Mr Marri, along with Mehboob Khaskheli, Khan Mohammad Mangi and Javed Rahimoon, was whisked away by unidentified men when he was returning from Larkana. His Land Cruiser jeep was found abandoned near the thermal power station in Jamshoro on April 7.

Described as Mr Zardari’s manager by Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khurshid Shah, Mr Marri owns agricultural land in Tando Allahyar and purportedly looks after agricultural land and other businesses of top PPP leaders, including Mr Zardari. He had accompanied Mr Zardari in a helicopter during the former’s visit to Hub in March for a political gathering. He is said to be quite close to Mir Munawar Talpur, husband of Mr Zardari’s sister Faryal Talpur.

In a TV interview, Mr Zardari had said that those behind disappearance of his men would not stop him.

— Behram Baloch in Gwadar and Imtiaz Ali in Karachi also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2017