Torture Bearable, But They Were Out to Break My Mind: Shahbaz Taseer To NDTV

New Delhi: Governments need to act on extremism, which is now a global problem, Shahbaz Taseer, son of a murdered Pakistani governor, who had been captured and tortured by terrorists for nearly four and a half years, told NDTV.

Mr Taseer's account of the horrific torture he suffered - nails pulled out, back carved open, salt put in wounds -- has made headlines across the world. "I realised I was not dealing with human beings so I would not be treated like one... an extremist will always bite the hand that feeds him," he told NDTV.

"We, as a nation, as a people, have to understand this can't go on," he said. "People can't say it is Pakistan's problem, it is a global problem. People who sit in government, need to sit down together and come up with a solution to this problem. Governments need to take this problem very seriously."  

The physical torture, he said, was easier to bear than the mental torture, as physically, the pain goes away after a while. "But some of the things they would continuously say to me... they abused me, they abused my father... they were trying to break my mind."

For more than four years, Mr Taseer he was kept moved from place to place in Pakistan's tribal areas and Afghanistan.

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He said it was his faith in God and his "father's memory" kept him going. "There were times when I wanted to give up but giving up is easy. I couldn't take easy road," he said.

The terrorists had kidnapped 32-year-old Mr Taseer from Lahore in 2011 while he was on his way to work. Months before the abduction, his father Salman Taseer, who had called for reforms in Pakistan's blasphemy law, was shot dead.

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"I am not scared of being Salman Taseer's son. I am proud that he died for what he believed in... It is victory for my father that I am alive against all odds," Mr Taseer said.