Canadian Joshua Boyle, who along with his wife, Caitlan Coleman, a Canadian, and their three children, recently rescued from Haqqani network after being held hostage for five years, are trying to settle back in to their normal lives in Canada.
The couple were kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2012 and have in that time had three children. They were freed during a rescue operation involving Pakistani forces last week and arrived back in Canada on Friday.
Boyle was this weekend seen playing with his son in the garden of his parent's house in Ontario, Canada.
“For five years I am raising my family amid a group of bandits … who call themselves Muslim, but are not such. And I have to try to teach religion to my children, and to teach them Islam, but to say do not think that these bad men are Muslim,” said Boyle.
Meanwhile Coleman’s father criticized his son in-law for having taken his heavily pregnant wife to Afghanistan in 2012. He sharply criticized his son-in-law's actions saying their was no logic in having taken her to such an insecure part of the world.
“Taking your pregnant wife to a very dangerous place to me and the kind of person that I am is unconscionable,” Jim Coleman, father of Caitlan Coleman said.
Meanwhile, Pakistani army spokesman Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said the family had been freed from Haqqani network after an armed clash.
“When we found their car, we surrounded it and fired on its tires to stop it. After that, our priority was to free the hostages safely,” said Ghafoor.
Over the weekend however, Boyle accused his captors of having killed their infant daughter and of raping his wife.
However, the Taliban issued a statement on Sunday rejecting the claims and said at no time had the couple been separated from each other, nor had the baby been killed. The Taliban said the baby died due to a lack of medical attention.
Afghan senate head Fazal Hadi Muslimyar meanwhile said Pakistan orchestrated the operation for their own benefit.
“Pakistan search long-term plans behind such incidents,” said Muslimyar.