Shahbaz Taseer lets out torture stories during captivity
He caught malaria during his days in captivity but there was no medicine
LAHORE (Dunya News/AFP) – Former governor’s son, Shahbaz Taseer, who recently managed to escape militants’ captivity after over four and a half years has revealed his sufferings after abduction.
In an interview with British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Taseer finally pulled the curtains off the torture and brutality that militants associated with Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Taliban subjected him to.
Taseer said that terrorists, during the initial days, flogged him and he was lashed with a rubber whip over 500 times within four to five days. His back was lacerated and flesh pulled out, leaving the deep wound bleed for about a week.
He caught malaria during his days in captivity but there was no medicine.
“They kept asking for a bank account that never existed,” he said, adding, “I was tortured in extravagant Hollywood-style movies that they would make for my family.”
Taseer said that he was shot once in the leg but luckily it did not touch his bone. He said that the militants exposed his face to honey bees so that they could show his face to the victimized family. His guards had sewn his lips while he was kept starved for around ten days.
Taseer, who is in his early 30s, described his survival as a "personal victory". He said patience and the hope of eventual release sustained him.
"People, friends and family say you are very brave, you came back, it was very heroic. But these are not things I can say about myself. What I can say about myself is that I learnt to be very patient."
They once buried me for seven days, then for three days and another three days once after that, he said.
Former governor’s son said that he was told beforehand what he was wanted by terrorists to endure the next day. “We will pull your fingernails out tomorrow,” they used to say, Taseer added.
While talking about where he was kept after abduction, Taseer said that he was taken to Mir Ali in Waziristan first but was shifted to Shawal after Jinnah International Airport was attacked as terrorists were expecting retaliation by army and security agencies.
He was kept in Mir Ali until June 2014 and taken to Shawal before shifting him to Afghanistan’s Zabul through Gomal later in February 2015.
At the time when Taseer was rescued in March
Taseer said that he remained in Uzbek group’s incarceration until it developed a clash with Afghan Taliban. Uzbeks wanted to join Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) while and ‘Taliban weren’t leading them the right way,’ Taseer said.
According to Shahbaz his new captors were not interested in a ransom but instead "sentenced" him to further jail time, before, he says, "I met someone there who helped release me."
He then went into Taliban’s captivity who thought him to be Uzbek and threw him in a jail for fighting against them.
He added that he lived with a family for at least a year and a half owing to drone attacks and the family did not know who he was. Only your survival instincts save you there, nothing that you have learnt in schools or elsewhere helps, Taseer said.
He recently met with former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s son, Ali Haider who was rescued in a joint Afghan-US operation in Afghanistan months after he escaped.
Taseer said that Ali Haider understood what he said but their brothers among others would not.
Taseer escaped Taliban jail on March 8 and made a contact with his family. Security agencies then rescued him and shifted to Lahore.
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