Court orders govt to submit detailed response in petition seeking trial of Ehsanullah Ehsan

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PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday ordered the federal government to file a detailed report on the ongoing investigations on Jamaatul Ahrar (JuA) former spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan.

A parent of one of the slain children of the Peshawar Army Public School terrorist (APS) attack had filed a writ petition earlier asking for the high court’s order to try Ehsanullah Ehsan under a military court for various acts of terrorism, including the APS attack.

In response to the petition, the federal government responded simply with a statement saying that the case was being investigated. Dissatisfied with the government’s response, the court subsequently ordered it to submit a detailed reply to the petition in the next hearing.

Ehsan had surrendered himself to the security forces earlier this year and is currently in custody, according to the statement issued by Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Major General Asif Ghafoor on April 17.

JuA, of which Ehsan is a founding figure, splintered from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in 2014 and has carried out about 120 attacks since then. It aligned with the militant Islamic State group (also known as Daesh) at one stage but later rejoined TTP, while maintaining its independent status. It launched its operation ‘Ghazi’ in February, which led to a sharp increase in terrorist attacks.