Thaindian News

Islamabad, Aug 28 (IANS) Five people have been detained in Lahore in connection with the abduction of Shahbaz Taseer, the son of late Punjab province governor Salman Taseer, police said.

Shahbaz Taseer was abducted from Lahore’s Gulberg area Friday. He was travelling with a friend when four armed men abducted them at gunpoint. His friend, who was later released, told the police about the kidnapping.

Shahbaz’s father Salman Taseer was shot dead in January by one of his security guards, Mumtaz Qadri, because of Taseer’s opposition to Pakistan’s blasphemy law and his defence of a Christian woman sentenced to death on charges of blasphemy.

The five people were detained Saturday after getting cell phone data of Shahbaz Taseer, Dawn News reported.

Sources said that after tracing the latest calls from Taseer’s phone, police detained three people. Intelligence agency officials later picked two others. All five have been taken to an unidentified location.

One of the arrested men had communicated with Taseer when he was leaving his residence Friday morning, the sources said.

All five men knew Taseer very well and were aware that at the time of his departure from home he was leaving without police escort.

From statements obtained from family members and friends of Taseer, it is strongly suspected that the kidnapping was part of a business-related dispute, they said.

The family was yet to be contacted by the kidnappers.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have assured the family of Taseer that he would be rescued soon.