Lahore: The son of a slain Pakistani governor who was killed by his bodyguard for his opposition to a controversial 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 whisking him away, police said, quoting witnesses.
"Shabhaz was out with a friend when four unidentified people kidnapped him," his brother Sheryar Taseer told Reuters.
"Our family has been receiving threats from the Taliban and extremist groups," he said, adding they could be behind the abduction.
No one has yet claimed the responsibility.
Blasphemy
The governor, Salman Taseer, of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, was killed by his own bodyguard early this year 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 Pakistan's harsh blasphemy law in the spotlight.
Shahbaz Taseer's abduction is the second high-profile kidnapping in Lahore this month.
America kidnapped
Police are still searching for an American aid expert who was kidnapped about two weeks ago.
Warren Weinstein, 70, the country director for J.E. Austin Associates Inc., had been working on a project in Pakistan's northwestern tribal areas where Pakistani troops have been battling Islamist insurgents for years.
Up to eight assailants kidnapped Weinstein in a pre-dawn raid on his house in Lahore on August 13.
