A senior Pakistani politician was released today by kidnappers nearly a year after his abduction from Karachi, his party said.
Kasi tribe chief and Awami National Party Balochistan Chapter's former president Arbab Zahir Kas was recovered from Peshawar.
Confirming Kasi's release, ANP leader Sardar Asghar Khan Achakzai said he was recovered without payment of ransom.
"Tribal leaders played a crucial role in his release," Express Tribune quoted Achakzai as saying.
On October 23, 2013, Arbab Zahir Kasi was kidnapped from Quetta while on his way to visit his relatives in the downtown area of the city.
A group of armed men had intercepted his vehicle near an intersection of Patel Road and after manhandling his driver and, snatching his mobile phone and car keys, the kidnappers took Kasi away, leaving the driver and the car behind.
Kasi's captors had demanded a huge amount of ransom from the his family soon after the kidnapping, however, his son Nawabzada Omar Kasi had refused to pay the ransom amount.
Kidnapping for ransom is thriving criminal activity in Pakistan and both Taliban and other gangs regularly pick influential people and businessmen for money.
