Islamabad: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Ijaz Shah confirmed on Monday that former Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan had escaped from the custody of security agencies, but asserted that authorities were “doing a lot” in the case and that there would be “good news”.
“The news is true, it’s true,” the Minister said in an informal conversation with reporters at Parliament, Dawn reported.
He said that the “state is aware” of Ehsan’s escape. He did not provide any details.
When asked whether the state was doing anything on the matter, Shah said: “A lot is being done. You will hear good news.”
Ehsan, a former Pakistan Taliban spokesman, was responsible for the shooting of Malala Yousafzai in 2012 and carrying out the deadly Peshawar Army school terror attack in 2014.
In an audio clip released by him on social media on February 6, Ehsan said that he had escaped from the custody of Pakistani security agencies on January 11, and claimed that the forces failed to keep promises made to him during his surrender in 2017.
The Minister’s confirmation comes after nearly 10 days of official silence over reports of the former TTP spokesman’s escape.
Mystery surrounds the circumstances of the escape of Ehsan, with sources telling Dawn that he fled during one of the operations to capture and target terrorists. The sources said that Ehsan had to be tried for his crimes but before the trial, all possible information had to be extracted from him to conclude the operations.
Notwithstanding his claim of being in Turkey, some sources believe the former militant spokesman is in Afghanistan.