Army Official Having Links With Hizbul Tehrir Is Being Probed

    A brigadier of Pakistan Army appointed at General Headquarters was arrested apparently on the charges of having links with a banned militant outfit.
Brigadier Ali Khan, who was appointed at the Regulation Directorate in GHQ back in May 2009, came under the surveillance radar of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) earlier this year, according to sources.
Reportedly, after almost six months of surveillance, the ISI and MI in a joint operation, picked up the brigadier from outside his residence on May 6. The intelligence authorities reportedly ran a check on him after some ‘suspicious’ people were found frequently visiting his home. The call records of Khan’s cell phone confirmed the suspicions of intelligence agencies. Sources said Brigadier Ali Khan was linked to the section of militants that had direct ties with the Central Investigation Agency (CIA) and the military intelligence agencies arrested him to probe this connection. The ISPR only confirmed Ali Khan’s arrest but refused to provide further details. Confirming the arrest, ISPR Director General Major General Athar Abbass said the news was not made public earlier due to pending investigations against the brigadier. Abbas said the brigadier was linked to Hizbul Tahrir, a militant organization banned by former president Pervez Musharraf in 2003. He said the investigations were at early stages and it was premature to comment any further. He denied any racket of senior military officers having links with militants.
   Earlier, talking to a private television channel, Abbas had said Hizbul Tahrir was linked to England, which, according to sources, was a hint at the possible nexus between militants, CIA and officers like Ali Khan. The ISPR DG said no other arrests were made.
The brigadier was reportedly going to retire from his duties at Pakistan Army next month. It is also being probed how a brigadier having linkages with militants got appointed Regulation Directorate, an important military branch that primarily deals with recruitments and human resource issues. Hizbul Tahrir is the same organisation that sends hand-outs and parcels to almost all the journalists of mainstream national media instigating the journalist community to declare ‘Jihad’ against the foreign powers, Pakistani government and Pakistan Army.