Mystery surrounds Pakistani Taliban commander’s whereabouts after escape from custody

An audio message released last week purported to be the voice of Ehsanullah Ehsan, the face of the group’s bloody insurgency

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai. Ehsanullah Ehsan became the face of Pakistan's bloody Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan insurgency after announcing the militants' involvement in notorious attacks such as the shooting of female education campaigner Malala Yousafzai.AFPShow less

Mystery surrounds the whereabouts of one of the Pakistani Taliban's most infamous commanders after an audio clip purporting to be released by him said he had escaped from custody.

Ehsanullah Ehsan became the face of Pakistan's bloody Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan insurgency as the spokesman for the fighters, and announced militant involvement in notorious attacks such as the shooting of female education campaigner Malala Yousafzai.

Audio released last week claimed he had fled from custody, having surrendered to the Pakistani military in 2017 as the army led a successful campaign to quash the TTP.

The clip has not been verified, but journalists once in regular contact with Ehsan told The National the audio appeared to be him. The military added to the confusion by refusing to comment on his whereabouts, or on whether the audio was genuine.

The brief clip last week said he had been forced to escape from custody because the Pakistani authorities had broken the terms of his surrender deal.

"We tolerated the hardships of imprisonment calmly for three years but eventually we were forced to make a plan to escape from there," he said.

The Army's information wing did not respond to requests for comment.

The apparent flight of a prized prisoner whose capture had been hailed as proof Pakistan had defeated the TTP raised calls for a formal investigation. Ehsan had reportedly been kept in a safe house rather than a prison as part of his surrender deal.

Fahartullah Babar, a former senator of the Pakistan Peoples Party, said: “Reports that TTP spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan fled from custody are highly disturbing. One of the two explanations possible: Complicity or sheer incompetence.”

Terrorist violence in Pakistan has fallen more than 85 per cent in the past decade, partly as a result of repeated military offensives against militants in Pakistan's border tribal belt that have killed or driven out extremist fighters. Terror attacks dropped from nearly 2,000 in 2009 to fewer than 250 in 2019, according to a think tank tally.

The TTP, an umbrella group of Islamist militants based in Pakistan, was once responsible for hundreds of shootings and suicide bombings each year.

At the time of Ehsan's surrender, Pakistan's army said it was proof it was winning the war against the Taliban. A confession video released weeks later, saw Ehsan accuse the Taliban of being funded by the Afghan and Indian intelligence services.

Mohsin Dawar, a tribal belt parliamentarian, called on the military to clarify what had happened. “We demand a thorough investigation into this incident,” he said.

Confusion over Ehsan's location came as two senior TTP leaders were disclosed to have been shot dead in the Afghan capital Kabul.

Militant sources confirmed to The National that Sheikh Khalid Haqqani had been shot dead late last month. Once described as one of the leading thinkers of the militant group, he had been its deputy leader. As well as losing ground in Pakistan, the TTP has also been fractured by tribal rivalries. Many of its fighters have taken shelter in Afghanistan and analysts say the movement remains a shadow of its former self.