SINDH High Court Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah greets his son, Barrister Awais Ali Shah, on his return in Karachi.—APP
ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: Barrister Awais Ali Shah, the kidnapped son of the Sindh High Court chief justice, was on Tuesday safely recovered in an intelligence-based operation on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan — in which three of his captors associated with a splinter group of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were killed — and was reunited with his family hours later in Karachi.
Talking to journalists outside his Gizri residence shortly after being reunited with his son, SHC Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah lauded the efforts of the army chief and his team for the safe recovery. “General Raheel Sharif called me at three o’clock at night and informed me about the recovery of my son,” said the chief justice.
“He was kind enough to also let me talk to my son at my request, and he was kind enough to arrange a special plane to get him here from Tank.”
The militants belonged to a TTP splinter group, though the kidnapping also had the signature of Al Qaeda in Subcontinent (AQIS), a terrorist group active in Karachi, said Gen Asim Bajwa at a media briefing at the ISPR office.
Sharing details of the operation led by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on D.I. Khan-Tank Road, Gen Bajwa said the military had set up checkpoints and stationed troops on all the three roads leading from Mufti Mehmood Chowk in Dera Ismail Khan district in view of the ‘technical intelligence’ gathered over the past three days that the terrorists might move Awais towards adjoining South Waziristan via Tank. It was little after 2am when an approaching blue SUV was signalled to stop but the driver overran the road divider in an attempt to flee, he said. The troops in response shot the driver dead after which two other terrorists in the vehicle attempted to escape while opening fire but were also killed in an exchange of fire with the troops, he added.
Barrister Awais Ali Shah flown back to Karachi and reunited with family a month after being kidnapped in Clifton
On searching the vehicle, the troops found Awais covered in a ‘burqa’ with his hands tied and feet chained. Three AK-47 Kalashnikov guns, 500 bullets, and six grenades were seized from the terrorists and the vehicle, he said.
The son of the chief justice was taken to a military camp after which Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif phoned his father to inform him about his recovery.