Islamabad: Former Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant Ehsanullah Ehsan, who recently surrendered to security forces, has alleged the insurgent group and its breakaway faction Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) have links with Indian and Afghan intelligence agencies.

Ehsan made the disclosure in a confessional video statement released by the Pakistani military’s public relations wing on Wednesday.

Last week, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said a key commander of JuA has turned himself in.

Ehsan said in the video he joined the TTP in 2008, when he was a college student, and had been a spokesman for TTP and JuA.

He said: “I have played the role of a spokesperson and during my 9 years I saw a lot happening in TTP. They misguided dozens of people, especially the youth, into joining the organisation in the name of Islam. They got their [Indian] support, their funding and took money for every activity they did. They pushed the TTP soldiers on the front lines to fight against the Pakistan Army and went into hiding themselves.

“When they started taking help from India and [its intelligence agency] RAW, I told Umar Khalid Khorasani [TTP commander] that we’re ... helping them kill our own people in our own country.”

“He [Khorasani] said even if Israel agrees to fund me to spread terror in Pakistan, I will take their help’ … At that point, I had figured out that the TTP leadership was functioning to serve its own self-interest and agendas.”

Ehsan said that TTP and JuA have committees in Afghanistan through which they communicate with NDS (Afghan intelligence) and, through the latter, with RAW.

NDS gave them documents [Afghan IDs] so that they can easily move around [in Afghanistan], he alleged.

The former insurgent further revealed that current TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah — who is believed to be hiding in Afghan border areas along with accomplices — became TTP leader through a lucky draw.

He said the fight for leadership intensified when Pakistani military operations began in Waziristan tribal region along the Afghan border.

“When everybody in the organisation began fighting for leadership, the committee decided to have a lucky draw. Mullah Fazlullah became the leader via lucky draw,” he said.

Fazllullah fled across the border into Afghanistan along with others when the army launched a comprehensive operation in June 2014 with focus on North Waziristan tribal region that led to dismantling of the militant infrastructure and hideouts in that hub of militancy.