Islamabad: Pakistan security agencies have ‘failed’ to dismantle a “multi-faceted” communication network of banned outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir, even months after detaining some mid-ranked army officers for links to the group, a media report said on Monday.
“Yes, we are at it… making efforts to dismantle whatever means they (HuT activists) are using to communicate with society and within the outfit,” an unnamed official was quoted as saying by a report in The Express Tribune.
He added: “There has not been any major breakthrough yet”.
The official said that the organisation’s presence outside Pakistan was a key factor that was hindering attempts by the country’s spy agency to break HuT activists’ links among themselves and with other people.
“It seems that the communication network is being operated from countries like the United Kingdom or some other European states where the outfit is not banned… that makes all the difference,” said the official in an apparent attempt to justify the so called ‘failure’.
The “revelation” came three months after Brigadier Ali Khan, a serving army officer, and some other unnamed personnel were detained for their alleged links with the HuT — an organisation that seeks to establish a caliphate in Pakistan by overthrowing the democratic government.
Subsequently, intelligence agencies launched a countrywide crackdown on HuT activists and some of its activists – allegedly the masterminds behind its ‘highly sophisticated cyber warfare’ – were picked up from different parts of the country. (PTI)