ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Tuesday said that he hoped that Shahbaz Taseer, son of slain Punjab governor Salman Taseer, would soon reunite with his family.

In a statement on the social networking website Twitter, the minister said that "multiple efforts" on the part of the government were underway which he said would result in a "positive" outcome.

Earlier in July, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah had said that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had been negotiating with militants over Shahbaz’s release.

That was the first official confirmation that the government was in talks with the men holding Shahbaz.

Sanaullah had said during a Geo News TV program that Shahbaz’s kidnappers were demanding a large ransom and the release of some of their colleagues.

He had moreover said that the ISI had previously secured the release of the son-in-law of a former Pakistani army general through similar negotiations.

Shahbaz Taseer was kidnapped from Lahore on Aug 26, 2011 in the morning near his company’s head office.

Shahbaz Taseer's father Salman Taseer was killed by his bodyguard last year for criticising Pakistan's blasphemy laws.