Families of APS martyrs demand Pakistan government to explain Ehsanullah Ehsan’s escape

Parents and family members of the children who were martyred in the terrorist attack targeting Peshawar’s Army Public School took to the streets to protest against the reported escape of former Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan.

The demonstrators, led by Shuhada APS Forum President Advocate Fazal Khan, gathered outside the Peshawar Press Club, and shouted slogans against the militant’s reported escape.

They also demanded the government to address the questions surrounding Ehsan’s escape and launch an investigation into the matter.

“The news of escape has created a sense of deprivation among the APS victims,” Khan said. He added that the government’s silence over the matter has raised questions.

“How can a terrorist escape from a highly-guarded red zone area? It’s a good joke,” he said.

Khan said that the grieving parents have been struggling for justice but the government has refused to pay heed to their demands.

The victims’ parents said that news of Ehsan’s escape had reopened their wounds of losing their children to terrorists. The demonstrators were also carrying banners, inscribed with slogans calling for justice.

Last week, Advocate Khan had filed a petition in the Peshawar High Court, seeking contempt of court proceedings against multiple government officials following reports of the militant’s escape. It was on December 16, 2014, when armed terrorists broke into APS building in Peshawar, and massacred more than 140 people, most of them children.

The massacre, which was claimed by the TTP, had prompted the government and national institutions to draw up the National Action Plan and Operation Zarb-i-Azb was launched by the military.

News of Ehsan’s escape surfaced when a short audio message, allegedly from the former militant spokesman disclosed that on January 11, 2020, he had managed to escape from the “custody of the Pakistani security authorities”.

According to sources Ehsan fled during one of the operations to capture and target terrorists. “The TTP spokesman had to be tried for his crimes but before that, all possible information had to be extracted from him to conclude the operations,” sources said adding and that it was during one such operation that he was able to flee.

The audio message attributed to Ehsan (real name Liaqat Ali) said that the TTP spokesman had surrendered to a Pakistani security agency on February 5, 2017 under an agreement. The message claimed Ehsan had honoured his part of the agreement and alleged that Pakistani authorities violated their terms and kept him in a prison along with his family.

Earlier in a call to a Pakistani newspaper, the former militant spokesman claimed that he was in Turkey, along with his wife, son and daughter but refused to say how he had managed to reach there.