ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Friday sought to find out the status of Ehsanullah Ehsan, a former spokesman for the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

“Why is he not under anybody’s custody?” asked PPP’s parliamentary leader in the Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman, while speaking in the upper house of parliament.

In April of 2017, the military announced that Ehsan had surrendered himself to the security forces, but offered scant details about the circumstances surrounding his capture or any conditions involved.

The former TTP spokesman also made a televised confession the same month.

Ehsan had reportedly escaped from custody early this year. In an audio message released on Feb 6, he claimed that he had surrendered to the authorities “under an agreement”, but escaped after “Pakistan’s treacherous institutions imprisoned me, along with my children”.

Minister tells Senate no change has been made in the retirement age of government employees

Ms Rehman asked the government to share details of the entire episode, and asked as to who had set Ehsan free.

“He was the one who accepted responsibility (on behalf of the TTP) of Army Public School massacre in Peshawar,” she pointed out.

Referring to a tweet by Ehsan, in which he had said that PPP chairman would meet the fate of his mother, the senator said Prime Minister Imran Khan would be responsible if any harm came to Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. She also criticised the prime minister for terming “a terrorist like Osama bin Laden a martyr”.

A minister, meanwhile, informed the house that the government had taken no decision yet about reducing the retirement age of government employees from 60 to 55 years and abolishing their pension benefits.

Responding to a call-attention notice, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan termed the reports about changes in the retirement age “misleading and unfounded”.

“As of today, the government has taken no decision regarding reduction in retirement age of government employees (and) no proposal has been received in this regard,” he told the house.

The minister explained that the Civil Servants Act, 1973 deals with the retirement age and pension benefits of the government employees and, according to the Cabinet Division, any change in it would require a fresh act of parliament.

“Successive governments did not strengthen the civil service in the last five decades,” Mr Khan said, adding that the present government is only trying to bring reforms in the service. “We will facilitate the government employees but at the same time they would be asked to work efficiently,” he said.

Earlier, speaking on his call-attention notice, senior PPP leader and chairman of the Senate Standing Commi­ttee on Interior Senator A. Rehman Malik said according to media reports there was considerable unease among government employees over reports regarding reduction in the retirement age. He claimed that the government was working on the instructions of the Inter­national Monetary Fund (IMF), which had probably called for reducing the number of government employees.

Senator Malik advised the government to refrain from taking “unwise steps” against the poor employees who had great expectations from their pension schemes.

The PPP senator said it was time for the country to come out of IMF’s influence.

While responding to a critical statement made by PML-N Senator Musha­hidullah Khan, the state minister for parliamentary affairs said that neither is the incumbent government rolling back the China-Pakistan Economic Corri­dor (CPEC) project, nor was Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Abhinandan Varthaman handed over to India under pressure from the US.

Mr Khan said an in-camera briefing was given on the release of the IAF pilot, which was attended by the entire leadership of political parties, including Shahbaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari. “They (opposition leaders) even had said that it was a good gesture,” he said, adding that the opposition’s stance during indoor meetings was often different from their public positions.

Mushahidullah Khan had said the Indian pilot had been released due to pressure from the US. He claimed that an Israeli pilot had been released along with the Indian officer.

The PML-N’s parliamentary leader in the Senate said that China’s decision to invest $400 billion in Iranian projects made it clear that the sitting government was doing nothing on CPEC.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2020