Daily Times

Former Pakistani Taliban spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan has said that Pakistani authorities had given him a hit list of people who they would like to be killed in the North-Western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In an audio, he claimed that after some time of his surrender he was given the list of prominent voices in order to facilitate Pakistan in eliminating rogue elements.

He has released an audio message to the media in which he narrates his escape from the custody of Pakistani security forces.

In the message, Ehsanullah Ehsan also spoke of writing a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan after his escape but said he had not received a reply to the letter.

Ehsanullah Ehsan’s 11-minute and 50-second audio message was uploaded on his YouTube channel at 7 pm on Monday. And around the same time, the link was shared on the Twitter handle of Ehsanullah Ehsan. He himself shared it with journalists.

Moreover, he denied claims by Pakistani authorities that he had escaped from the custody of security forces during a sensitive operation in January this year.

According to the audio Eshan said, “I was asked to lead a death squad.. and the list included people from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and they were Pashtuns from all walks of life including journalists. (Mujhe kaha gaya ki ap ik death squad ko lead karein..aur ap gadaron aur mulk key dushmanon key khilaf kam shuru karey..Jo list muje diya gaya usmai zyada tar afrad ka taluk Khyber Pakhtunkhwa se tha aur woh sab pashtun they jis mai zindgi key har shobey se talku rakhney waley afrad key name they, jin mai pashtun safee afrad key name bhi shamil they).”

In the audio, he talked about his conversations with military intelligence and the parleys that took place.

Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed that he refused to lead the death squad because he wanted to live a peaceful life. And for the same purpose, he surrendered to the Pakistani security forces.

He explained the details of the agreement with the security agency: “It was decided that no case would be registered against me. Old cases will be withdrawn. I will not be kept in jail or in a torture cell. I will be financially supported and I will not be subject to any social restrictions.”