Pakistan Army has arrested a serving brigadier on suspicion of having links with a banned religious organisation and investigation is underway to find out whether there are any other such officials in the military’s ranks, Pakistan Today learnt on Tuesday.
“Brigadier Ali Khan, who was deployed at General Headquarters (GHQ), has been arrested for having links with the banned organisation Hizb-ut-Tahrir,” Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj General Athar Abbas told Pakistan Today. Hizb-ut-Tahrir is banned in Pakistan but is not as active as other such organisations and is more concentrated in Central Asia and the Middle East. It has also been blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the United States. Its declared objective is to resume the Islamic way of life by the revival of the Islamic Caliphate.
Abbas said a probe was underway to dig up more facts on the matter, but declined to share details because that could impact the investigation. “Brigadier Khan has been arrested because we have a zero-tolerance policy for such activities within the army,” Abbas said. “The procedure of scrutiny in the army is very strict,” he added. Another security official requesting anonymity said Brigadier Khan, who had been serving at GHQ for the last two years in its Regulation Directorate, was arrested on May 5, three days after the May 2 US raid on Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad, on suspicion of having links with extremist organisations.
“Khan is from Mianwali,” the official said without giving any further details. However, when Pakistan Today approached the arrested brigadier’s wife Anjum Ali, she said: “My husband has never been associated or in touch with Hizb-ut-Tahrir or any other extremist organisation… all these allegations are rubbish.” However, she said her husband was a practising Muslim and “he had an unflinching belief in Islam”. She said he loved the Pakistan Army and would never even think of betraying his institution.
“He went to office on May 5, and never returned… he has an illustrious career and all his seniors including the army chief acknowledge this,” she said, adding that whoever she had contacted had told her that he husband was safe and sound, a routine probe was going on and he would return home soon. The official said that Brigadier Khan was not yet formally charged but his links with the extremist organisation were being probed by the Special Investigation Branch (SIB).
He said the detention orders of Brigadier Khan were issued by COAS General Kayani himself, but it was also a fact that he and other top military commanders were perturbed by the issue because of Khan’s excellent professional record and also because his family had been associated with the army for decades. Khan’s father was a junior commissioned officer, his brother is a serving colonel in the army and his son and son-in-law are captains in the army. General Kayani ordered the arrangement of a briefing at his office after he was told about Brigadier Khan’s links with Hizb-ut-Tahrir.
“At the end of the briefing, the visibly perturbed army chief ordered Khan’s detention,” said the official.
Brigadier arrested for links to HT
