Pakistan Punishes Military Personnel After A Senior Member Of “Taliban” Escapes

Pakistan’s armed forces spokesman Babar Iftikhar said today, Wednesday, that the authorities have ordered punishment of a number of military personnel after a prominent member of the Pakistani Taliban movement fled from a detention center.

“All those responsible for this have been tried and punished,” Iftikhar told reporters in the city of Rawalpindi, where the army is based.

He added that all of those who were punished were military personnel, but he did not disclose details about their number or identity.

Liaquat Ali, a former media spokesman for the Pakistani “Taliban” movement known by a pseudonym Ihsanullah Ihsan, fled last year after three years of surrendering himself to the army.

The Army Media Office denied any involvement in the trial and punishment of IhsanRD’s escape or complicity with him and said that the case is related to negligence.

Ihsan served as the movement’s spokesperson for nearly a decade during which he issued statements and held press conferences at the movement’s headquarters near the Afghan border. He also claimed the Pakistani Taliban’s responsibility for a number of bombings and bloody attacks, including the shooting of Nobel laureate education activist Malala Yousafzi in 2012.

Source: “Reuters”