Minister confirms TTP leader’s escape

After days of silence by the state officials, Interior Minister Ijaz Shah on Monday confirmed the escape of former Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan from the custody of Pakistan security agencies.

To a question during an informal conversation with journalists at the parliament in Islamabad, he said he had read reports of Ehsan’s escape.

"The news is true, it's true," the minister replied when asked if there was any truth to these reports. He said the "state is aware" of his escape.

When a reporter asked whether the state authorities were doing anything about the issue, Ijaz Shah said, "A lot is being done. You will hear good news."

The former TTP leader had announced his escape in an audio message released on social media.

Though he claimed he fled captivity on January 11 and was now in Turkey, some sources believe he is in Afghanistan.

Ehsan, after his “surrender” to the Pakistani security agencies, had claimed responsibility for his role in attack on Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai.
He was also the Taliban spokesman when militants stormed and massacred around 150 people, large majority of them children, at the Peshawar’s Army Public School.

The news of his escape had sent shivers across the spine of Pakistani public and many conspiracy theories have also remained in circulation about his going free.