Pakistan academic Ajmal Khan to take charge after 4 years in Taliban captivity

A prominent Pakistani academic, who was recently rescued by the security forces after spending four years in Taliban captivity, will resume charge as the Vice- Chancellor of the Islamia College University (ICP) here this week. Ajmal Khan, 65, will retake charge of his office on September 9, according to a spokesman for the ICP.

Ajmal, who had also served as the Vice-Chancellor of Gomal University in Dera Ismail Khan, was kidnapped by Taliban militants in September 2010 from the Campus of University of Peshawar. He was recovered from the Taliban captivity during an operation in the tribal region of Waziristan on August 28. 

Ajmal is a cousin of the Awami National Party's president Asfandyar Wali Khan and grandson of Abdul Jabbar Khan, former Chief Minister of North West Frontier Province.

Notably, Wali Khan was the elder brother of freedom fighter and founder of the Khudai Khidmatgar Movement, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, popularly known as the Frontier Gandhi.