Taliban terrorist ‘escapes’ Pak prison

ISLAMABAD : Ehsanullah Ehsan, the former Pakistan Taliban spokesman who was responsible for the shooting of Malala Yousafzai in 2012 and carrying out the deadly Peshawar Army school terror attack in 2014, has escaped from prison, according to an audio clip released by him.

The news comes 10 days before the global terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force takes up Pakistan’s case in Paris.

In the audio clip that surfaced on social media on Thursday, Ehsan said he had escaped the confinement of Pakistani security agencies on January 11, claiming Pakistani forces failed to keep their promises made to him during his surrender in 2017.

“With the help of God, I succeeded to escape on January 11, 2020 from the confinement of the security forces,” he is heard saying in the clip.

It would be a big blow to Pakistan and its campaign to eradicate the remnants of Taliban if the clip is proved to be authentic.

Without revealing his current location, Ehsan said he would make a detailed statement about the days of his confinement in the coming days as well as about his future plans.

Malala, 22, the youngest Nobel Peace prize winner, was shot by a gunman for campaigning for female education in 2012 in Pakistan’s Swat Valley.

Ehsan said that he surrendered to the Pakistani security agencies on February 5, 2017 under an agreement. “I followed the agreement for about three years. But these shrewd security institutions put me in prison along with my children in violation of the agreement,” he said, adding that he finally decided to flee from the forces.

The authenticity of the audio was not verified by the security forces.