‘Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan has surrendered’

DG ISPR rules out any compromise on Yadhav, or Indian access to him; Naureen Leghari recovered after her father appealed to army chief

RAWALPINDI: Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor on Monday said that Ehsanullah Ehsan, the spokesman for the banned Jamaatul Ahrar and a former member of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), had surrendered to the Pakistan Army.

"Ehsanullah Ehsan has handed himself over to the security forces and at present he is with us," Ghafoor told a news conference here saying the success was part of Raddul Fasaad Operation, which is in progress across the country. Ehsanullah Ehsan, who previously was the spokesman for TTP, had joined another banned outfit Jamaatul Ahrar. 

During the news conference, the DG ISPR also shared details of the ongoing Operation Raddul Fassad, saying it was started to consolidate the success achieved in Operation Zarb-e-Azb. He said the writ of the state was being restored.

On death penalty awarded to the Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadhav, Ghafoor reiterated there would be no compromise on anti-state acts, saying the RAW agent was convicted on the basis of solid and undeniable evidences. "He will be hanged on completion of the legal process," he said, adding that India would be granted no consular access to the RAW agent.

"Writ of the state is being restored and no anti-state element can challenge it or fight against its power," the spokesman for the Pakistan Army said.

Ghafoor told newsmen that the National Action Plan (NAP) was going ahead with success saying that cooperation among the institutions with regard to NAP was improving. "There is an improvement in cooperation on NAP every day," he said.

To a question about the meeting between Chief of the the details were issued through press release and what was discussed was for betterment of the country and the nation. Asked to comment on the United States act of dropping 'Mother Of All Bombs' in Afghanistan, Ghafoor said the US had a resolve to take action against ISIS. 

During the press conference, a video statement of Naureen Leghari was also shown in which she said she was to be used to carry out a suicide attack in Lahore on the eve of the Easter. “The case of Naureen Leghari should serve as a  lesson for parents who should keep an eye on activities of their children," ISPR DG said.

He said that they would try to rehabilitate Leghari who was trapped by handlers of ISIS. "It will be our effort to rehabilitate her so that she can go back to normal life," he said. He said Naureen’s father had appealed to the army chief for her recovery, upon which the army chief had issued directives to the Military Intelligence and others in this regard. He said the girl was recovered during an operation initiated as per direction of the army chief, adding that Noreen had not gone to Syria. 

Talking about Raddul Fasaad operation, he said it was an operation in which every Pakistani is a soldier. "We have to clear Pakistan of ‘fasaad and fasadis’ together while staying united,” he said. 

He said, “Army is a state institution and we will continue to give all kinds of sacrifices for the security of Pakistan. We have been mandated to safeguard the country at every cost.”

He expressed determination to eradicate terrorism as well as “fasadis” and their abettors, handlers and facilitators wherever they were found. “We have to delink all the ‘fasadis’ from the elements sitting across the border,” he said. 

He recalled that during operation Zarb-e-Azb, militants were dislodged from North Waziristan and the area was cleared except small pockets in Rajgal and Shawal.

Ghafoor said as part of Raddul Fassad operation, a total of 15 major operations and 4335 intelligence based operations (IBOs) were launched during which 4510 suspects were arrested while 1859 non-registered Afghan nationals were also taken into custody.

About working of military courts, he said the courts so far have disposed of 274 cases in which 161 were awarded death penalty, 11 have been hanged while another 14 would be hanged in near future.

He said the Pakistan Army had been fighting militancy since 2008, and had cleared all the areas physically by launching kinetic offensive.

He said reforms were being made in four areas, including judiciary, police, madaris (seminaries) and educational institutions, and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) through the NAP.

Other measures to be taken were stabilisation of Fata, border management mechanism and active surveillance on the borders, he added. He said the army along with FC would build 338 check posts by 2019 to strengthen border with Afghanistan, besides fencing it along Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata.

He said 42 forts had already been built, while 63 more were being built along the Pak-Afghan border. The ISPR DG said the Pak-Afghan border was 2611-km-long and in the first phase, 744 km border along Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be fenced and then fencing would be done along the border with Balochistan.

He said work was being carried out to erect fence along 100-km border in Mohmand Agency on priority basis. He told a questioner, “Border management mechanism is the most important issue and Pakistan as a sovereign country can do what it wants on its territory.” He said the Afghan leadership has realised that border fencing would also help their country. Talks between leadership of the two countries would further improve the situation, he added.