TARIQ SAEED While the reported escape of the former spokesperson of the defunct Tehreek-eTaliban Pakistan Ehsan Ullah Ethan’s from official custody is buzzing the social media with the official sources keeping mum over the matter, the parents and family members of the children who were martyred in the terrorist attack targeting Peshawar’s Army Public School on December 2014, filed a petition with the Peshawar High Court on Saturday, seeking contempt of court proceedings against multiple government officials. Sources said, the spokesperson for the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), escaped during an operation against terrorists being conducted on the basis of information gleaned from him. It may be recalled, that Ehsan Ullah who became the spokesperson for the breakaway Jamaat ul Ahrar faction after the TTP split, had voluntarily turned himself in to the intelligence agencies on Feb 5, 2017 – and remained in custody even since. The petition, submitted by Shuhada APS Forum President Fazal Khan Advocate, said that the respondents, which include the army chief, the director general of the ISI, as well as the federal and provincial secretaries, had violated earlier orders of the PHC barring authorities from releasing Ehsan. “Despite clear cut directions of this honorable court, now it has come to light that a luxurious home was provided to Ehsan from which the terrorist has made his escape: a fact not denied by the respondents,” reads the petition adding “The petitioner has been informed through reliable sources that clemency was in order of Ehsan Ullah Ehsan for his ‘full and frank disclosure’ which is not only highly deplorable but also out rightly illegal and unconstitutional,” the writ petition says, adding that the respondents had earlier assured the court that Ehsan would be tried by a military court and would not be granted clemency. The Peshawar High Court had in April 2018 barred the release of Ehsan, asking the government to wait until the relevant court tries him to decide his fate. The restriction on his release came as the court heard a petition, also by the APS Shuhada Forum, challenging an alleged government plan to grant clemency to Ehsan.
