LAHORE: The son of a Pakistani governor who was killed by his bodyguard for his opposition to a harsh blasphemy law this year was kidnapped in the eastern city of Lahore on Friday, police and the family said.
Four men on motorbikes intercepted Shahbaz Taseer in his car in the upscale Gulberg area and took him to a nearby street before kidnapping him, police said, quoting witnesses.
“Shahbaz was out with a friend when four unidentified people kidnapped him,” his brother Shehryar Taseer told Reuters.
Shahbaz Taseer is a director in several companies his father founded, including Pace Pakistan Ltd., First Capital Equities Ltd., Media Times Ltd. and First Capital Securities Corp. Ltd.
“Our family has been receiving threats from the Taliban and extremist groups,” Shehryar said, adding they could be behind the abduction.
No one has yet claimed responsibility.
Shahbaz’s father governor Salman Taseer, of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, was killed after he came out in support of a woman accused of committing blasphemy.
Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of four, was sentenced to death in a case stemming from a village dispute, putting the country’s blasphemy law in the spotlight.
Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said Shahbaz had been provided an official security detail in addition to the private guards he kept. But he was without security at the time of the incident.
“We are looking into it as to why this lapse happened,” he told Reuters .
Shahbaz filed the criminal case against the bodyguard who killed his father in January.
Salman Taseer’s son Shahbaz kidnapped from Lahore | Pakistan | DAWN.COM