'How did he escape?': Malala questions Imran Khan, Pak Army over Taliban terrorist threat

A Pakistani Taliban terrorist who nine years ago shot and badly wounded Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai has threatened a second attempt on her life, tweeting that next time, "there would be no mistake." Twitter on Wednesday permanently suspended the account with the menacing post.

'How did he escape Imran Khan?'

The threat prompted Malala Yousafzai to question Pakistan Army and Prime Minister Imran Khan over how the terrorist, Ehsanullah Ehsan, who took the responsibility for having shot her in 2020, had escaped from government custody. 

Ehsan, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan's (TTP) former spokesperson was arrested in 2017 but escaped in January 2020 from a so-called safe house where he was being held by Pakistan's intelligence agency. The circumstances of both his arrest and escape have been shrouded in mystery and controversy.

In an audio message released in Jan 2020, Ehsan could be heard saying that he has succeeded in escaping from Pakistan's jail. Ehsan had escaped on January 11 but no confirmation has been made by the Pakistan Army yet.

Since his escape, Ehsan has been interviewed and has communicated with Pakistani journalists via the same Twitter account that carried the Urdu-language threat. He has had more than one Twitter account, all of which have been suspended, according to Associated Press. The Pakistan government is investigating the threat and had immediately asked Twitter to shut down the account, said Raoof Hasan, an adviser to the Imran Khan.

Ehsan, a longtime member of the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan as they are known, urged Yousafzai to come back home because "we have a score to settle with you and your father." The tweet added that this time "there will be no mistake."

READ | Puducherry L-G orders floor test on February 22 as Congress govt slips into minority

READ | Amit Shah gives CAA implementation assurance; says 'undemocratic to seek farm law repeal'

The charges against Ehsan include a horrific 2014 attack on a Pakistani army's public school that killed 134  mostly children, some as young as five years old. He also claimed responsibility for the 2012 shooting of Yousafzai in Swat Valley. In the attack, the gunman walked up to Yousafzai on a school bus in which she was travelling, asked for her by name and then fired three bullets. She was just 15 years old at the time and had enraged the Taliban with her campaign for girls education.

Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, a teacher, ran a school in Swat Valley for boys and girls. In 2007 when the Pakistani Taliban took control of the area, they forced girls out of schools and ruled with a brutal hand until 2009, when they were driven out by the Pakistani military. During his years in military custody, Ehsan was never charged. Authorities also later never explained how he left the country and travelled to Turkey, where he is believed to be living today.

READ | Railways refutes Mamata's claims on attack on TMC min: 'Law & order a State govt subject'

READ | Unnao double deaths: Post-mortem states 'deaths due to poisoning'; murder charges filed

(With agency inputs)