Pak security agencies struggle to make 'major breakthrough' in dismantling HuT network

Islamabad, Aug 8 (ANI): Security agencies in Pakistan are reportedly trying to dismantle the Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT) network, but "there has not been any major breakthrough yet," a senior military official said months after some mid-ranked army officers were detained for alleged links with the banned organisation.

"Yes, we are at it... making efforts to dismantle whatever means they (HuT activists) are using to communicate with society and within the outfit. There has not been any major breakthrough yet," The Express Tribune quoted the official, as saying.

The HuT is an organisation that seeks to establish a caliphate in Pakistan by overthrowing the democratic government.

The official said that the organisation's presence outside Pakistan was a key factor hindering the country's spy agencies' attempts to break links of HuT activists 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,'" he added.

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.

Intelligence agencies later launched a countrywide crackdown on the HuT activists, leading to the arrest of some of the masterminds behind its 'highly sophisticated cyber warfare' in different parts of the country.

The arrest last month of a telecom engineer, Osama Hanif, from Islamabad was part of the campaign to dismantle the organisation's technological network that still operates freely without any hindrance.

The official also confirmed that some of the arrests of HuT activists were linked to efforts to block its communication, but refused to give the exact number. (ANI)