Islamabad
Pakistan is expected to try former spokesperson of anti-Pakistan terrorist organisations Jamaat-UL-Ahrar (JuA) and Tehrik-e-Taliaban Pakistan (TTP), Ehsanullah Ehsan, in a military court.
On Friday, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry told the upper house of parliament that the former terrorist leader would be tried in a military court, according to local media reports.
Pakistan has adopted a zero-tolerance policy in the war against terrorism and Ehsan who had been involved in several terrorist incidents will not be pardoned, Minister Talal Chaudhry informed the parliamentarians. He was responding to a question by Senator Farhatullah Babar on the trial of Ehsan.
Minister Talal added that video statements of Ehsanullah Ehsan have also been made public, which reflect that the concerned departments are dealing on his case as per of the law of the land. “Relevant institutions have decided not to pardon or release Ehsanullah Ehsan.”
Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal in his written reply to Babar’s question also asserted that civilian agencies were not looking into the matter. He added that Ehsan’s case would be sent to a military court after approval by the relevant committee in this regard.
During the parliament session, Minister for States and Frontier Regions Abdul Qadir Baloch told the house that an amount of 331.86 million rupees (Dh11.02 million) has been disbursed as compensation to the victims of terrorist incidents in the tribal areas. Each damaged house in tribal areas would receive a compensation of four hundred thousand rupees.
The issue of Ehsan, the former spokesperson of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its splinter group Jamaat-UL-Ahrar (JuA) was discussed in the Senate on Friday.
Ehsan, who had been associated with TTP and later its splinter group, the Jamaatul Ahrar (JuA), reportedly turned himself in earlier this year.
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Who is Ehsan?
Liaqat Ali, commonly known as Ehsanullah Ehsan, belongs to the Mohmand Agency of the northwestern tribal region of Pakistan, which shares a border with Afghanistan.
In early 2008, he reportedly joined TTP as a college student and later in 2014, he became a spokesperson for JuA — the newly formed splinter group of the TTP.
TTP and JuA have claimed responsibility for some of the worst terrorist attacks in Pakistan, including 2014 Peshawar school massacre and 2016 bombing in Lahore Park during Easter that killed at least 70 people. Ehsan had claimed responsibility for the Army Public School attack in December, 2014.
Pakistan’s military announced the capture of Ehsan in April 2017.
In December 2017, the Peshawar High Court had barred the government from releasing Ehsan. The decision was taken by a two-member bench of the court on a petition filed by Fazal Khan, father of a student killed in the December 16, 2014 Army Public School attack.
