In its inability to corner India on the Kashmir issue at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2019, Pakistan is expected to resort to its favourite tactic of using its old asset— Ehsanullah Ehsan, the former Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesperson—to talk about the alleged role of Indian intelligence agencies in supporting terror outfits like the TTP in Pakistan.
In the last few months, Ehsanullah has been groomed by the ISI to spin venom against the Pakistani army, with attempts to build his credibility by having him make statements 'exposing' Pakistan's role as a sponsor of terror, security sources told THE WEEK.
With ISI crafting a narrative showing him speaking against both the Pakistani and Indian intelligence agencies, Ehsanullah fits well into the role of a double agent—and ISI hopes he will be able to put New Delhi in a spot.
As a former TTP spokesperson, Ehsanullah had claimed responsibility for the attack on Malala Yousafzai, and was also involved in the 2014 Peshawar school massacre. In February, he was reported to have ‘escaped’ a Pakistani prison and to have left the country.
Security sources said that not only is Ehsanullah's alleged escape from an ISI safehouse a smokescreen, but his recent tirade against the Pakistan army is also a ploy to attract international attention. “To stitch up this narrative, Islamabad first claimed that Ehsanullah had fled custody and escaped to Turkey and then propped him up as a terrorist who was spilling the beans on Pakistan,” said an official.
But, Indian intelligence agencies recently traced him to Islamabad, prompting Ehsanullah to go on Twitter to deny the claims. In addition, the global community is not giving credence to his recent tirade against the Pakistan army.The ISI propaganda effort may end up getting defeated.
On August 13, Ehsanullah went public with the names of Pakistan Army officers who had allegedly facilitated his “surrender” and were handling him. He claimed he was part of a death squad comprising of terrorists from outfits like the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), to eliminate those who were anti-Pakistan.
He had earlier released tape recordings saying he had escaped from an ISI safe house—while the ISPR went on record to correct his claim, saying that he escaped during an operation.
''The fact is that he is Pakistan's double agent and has been used time and again to create trust before the international community by seemingly appearing anti-Pakistan. But he is their pampered asset,'' said a security official.
The ISI’s gameplan has been to build up the profile and credibility of Ehsanullah and to make him talk about the alleged role of Indian intelligence agencies in supporting outfits like the TTP.
Pakistan is desperate to corner India at the UNGA and the FATF in October as it is still licking its wounds from 2019. In September 2019, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had made a shrill pitch over Kashmir and held aloft the threat of a nuclear war. Besides this, Khan's impassioned 50-minute speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York was a failure as it neither mustered any international support against India nor did Islamabad succeed in retaliating to India's decision on August 5, 2019, to abrogate Article 370 making Jammu and Kashmir a union territory.
It is not the first time, Ehsanullah is being used to dislodge the support India is getting from the international community against Pakistan.
On April 26, 2017, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the public relations wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces, tweeted that Ehsanullah has exposed a ''hostile foreign agenda'' with ''designs to destabilize Pakistan''. The Pakistani military then released a so-called “confessional” video of Ehsan where he claimed that TTP was working with India's external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
However, these claims fell flat as there was criticism both within and outside Pakistan of how outfits like the TTP has become just another example of the terror monster created by Pakistan; outfits now demanding their own pound of flesh. This, in turn, exposed how Ehsanullah's claims about the TTP getting support from RAW and Afghan security agencies was just another ploy to divert attention and help Pakistan's anti-India propaganda to escape responsibility towards its own people.
The horrific killing of school children in Peshawar's Army Public School on December 16, 2014, in which Ehsanullah is a prime accused in the case, is a glaring example. Ehsanullah has also been linked to several deadly attacks carried out by the TTP within Pakistan including that on Malala Yousufzai in 2012
In the upcoming UNGA and FATF meetings, India is prepared to expose Pakistan's role in the Pulwama terror attack through its detailed charge sheet, as well as the inaction in the 26/11 terror attack case and the overturning of the death sentence of Al Qaeda leader Amhed Omar Saeed Sheikh by a Pakistani court in the case of the kidnapping and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl.
In addition, Pakistan's deep state links with outfits like the TTP add to the evidence of its terror machinery, evidence that can come back to haunt it in the next few months.
