That way, a false narrative can be pushed that Ehsanuallah Ehsan has been working for Indian intelligence agencies.
New Delhi: Under immense pressure due to the revelations being done by former Taliban commander, Ehsanuallah Ehsan, Pakistan army commanders at GHQ, Rawalpindi, have asked their operatives to find him as soon as they can and silence him, one way or the other, or better still, capture him so that he can be used to advance a false narrative that he has been working for Indian intelligence agencies.
Separately, in a bid to discredit whatever he has been saying against them, Pakistan’s ISI is also working to create a narrative that he is, in fact, working for them. The officer, who is handling this responsibility of peddling this fake narrative has been identified as Major Omer Zeb Khan, who was earlier posted with 206 SVY, a unit of Pakistan military intelligence that deals with Afghanistan and now is with the 414 INT, which deals with India.
The recent revelations done by Ehsan, which has also been taken notice of by the State Department, United States, are likely to make an impact on the FATF plenary meet that is scheduled between 18-23 October in Paris, which will discuss the steps taken by Pakistan to control terror networks operating in the country. Though Pakistan has publicly taken steps to show to the FATF that it was taking action against terror groups, revelations done by Ehsan, more of which are likely to come in the coming days, have proved the close nexus between the Pakistan army and these terror groups.
The Sunday Guardian has reliably learnt that one of Ehsan’s SIM cards has been blocked, his Facebook account blocked and being traced for his location after he wrote an article last week (ISI chief begged for Taliban’s help in Kashmir, 6 September) in this newspaper where he revealed how the ISI and the Pakistan army had sought the help and assistance of Taliban and other terror organisations to carry out attacks in Kashmir and against NATO forces. The article by Ehsan had more importantly revealed the extent of close cooperation between the Haqqani network and the Pakistan army.
Earlier, he had also revealed how the Pakistan army was operating multiple death squads in various parts of the country to silence Opposition members, journalists and members of civil society.
In a bid to bring back Ehsan, who had escaped from a Peshawar safe house in January 2020 (This newspaper had broken this story: Pak Taliban leader Ehsanullah Ehsan ‘flees’ from safe house), the Pakistan army has abducted seven members of his family including his father, three brothers, his maternal uncle, one cousin brother and one of his close friends who have been in illegal custody for the last eight months.
Such is the desperation of the Pakistan army to reel in Ehsan, that a case filed by Ehsan’s family in the Peshawar High Court, seeking the release of these abducted members, has not come up for hearing even once. The case is listed in front of Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan of Peshawar High Court. (Writ petition 2398 (Aziz Ullah vs Federation of Pakistan) and Writ petition 2397 (Asmat Ullah vs Federation of Pakistan). The names of the detainees, as per the court records, whose release has been sought, are: Musafar Khan, Sher Muhammad Shafiq, Shaukat Khan, Hashmat Khan, Sher Bacha and Shah Fahad
All these individuals who were picked by the Pakistan army—as soon as Ehsan escaped from the Peshawar safe house—from the Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, are small traders who own clothes and slipper shops and have no criminal record. In fact, one of Ehsan’s brothers, Shafiq, who is in illegal custody since January, is a full-time member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which is in power right now.
According to information gathered by this newspaper, former and present members of Taliban and Pakistan army officers have reached out to Ehsan in the last few days with offers and threats and asked him to “come back” or be ready to face dire consequences once he is found. Even the media of Pakistan have been specifically asked not to carry or reproduce whatever Ehsan has been putting out on social media.