Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has asked Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and the army as to how did former Pakistani Taliban spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan escaped Pakistan’s custody.
“This is the ex-spokesperson of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who claims responsibility for the attack on me and many innocent people,” Malala tweeted after a Twitter handle “impersonating the former TTP spokesperson” threatened her.
“He is now threatening people on social media,” Malala said further, after which she went on to ask the military’s media wing and PM Imran as to how did the Ehsan even escape.
While the tweet by Ehsan, which Malala was responding to, has been deleted as a consequence of account suspension by Twitter, in it the ex-TTP mouthpiece had asked her father and her to return to Swat, saying they still “owe a massive debt”.
Ehsan is infamous for issuing claims of carrying out TTP attacks and has been linked to some of the country’s most deadly incidents of terror. These include the massacre of children at Army Public School (APS) Peshawar, bombing at a park in Lahore on Easter in 2016, and the targeting of Malala.
He surrendered to authorities in 2017 and later gave interviews to a Pakistani TV channel, leading to criticism and controversy that a terrorist was given airtime. It angered many in the country who believed he was being pampered by authorities after years of helping lead a violent insurgency.
Ehsan mysteriously escaped custody in February 2020, which, according to SAMAA, was also confirmed by the army.
While the now-suspended Twitter handle bearing Ehsan’s name was rather active, it has been dubbed as a fake one by many, including PM Imran’s focal person on digital media, Dr Arslan Khalid, who reacted to Malala’s statement.
“It’s a fake account @Malala and there is zero tolerance for extremism in Pakistan,” he tweeted.
However, Malala’s father Ziauddin Yousafzai responded to Dr Khalid, saying that they know for sure that the account belonged to Ehsanullah Ehsan.
