Awais Shah was wearing a Burqa when he was recovered from his kidnappers, who had made him wear a burqa to transport him to Dera Ismail Khan.
Director General ISPR Asim Bajwa said while briefing media on Shah’s recovery in a press conference an ambush was foiled in Dera Ismail Khan at an intersection on the way to Tank.
He said the army had technical evidence of movements’ and subsequently, we had placed an ambush to catch the suspects.
A Mufti Mehmood Chowk leads to three routes: Zhob, Tank and the main city. “We had deployed forces on all three exits.”
He narrated that forces spotted a blue-colored ‘Surf’ vehicle near Tank, and personnel promptly acted when the driver tried to escape after being flagged down.
Security force officials shot dead the driver. Two other ‘terrorists’ aboard the vehicle tried to flee, but the security forces caught them.
During a search of the vehicle, a burqa-clad person was seen. Security personnel asked about identity, but the queries were not answered. When the veil was lifted, it was a boy with his hands tied to the rope and lips sealed with sticky tape.
“This was a TTP splinter group with some Al Qaeda elements,” said Bajwa, explaining the affiliation of Shah’s kidnappers.
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“Intelligence agencies were working at a ‘surge rate.’ A whole chain of people was awake to make this operation a success last night, and there is always some operation of this scale going on.”
Bajwa also allayed suspicions, saying there is no information that any political party was involved in the kidnapping.
The ISPR chief said all three terrorists were killed.
“The operation was only completed this morning, and Awais hasn’t been debriefed yet,” said Bajwa, explaining why Shah hasn’t spoken to the media since returning home just a few hours ago.
“Whatever high-profile kidnappings they did, they had a purpose. They wanted to spread terror,” said Bajwa, referring to the series of high-profile kidnappings of Ali Haider Gilani, Shahbaz Taseer and Awais Shah.
“I want to salute the affected families. They have faced this challenge with perseverance, and ultimately all three cases were recovered.”
Director General ISPR Lt. General Asim Bajwa disclosed Shah’s recovery on Tuesday through a pre-dawn tweet. Three terrorists were also killed during the operation.
