JNN 21 June 2011 RAWALPINDI: A high ranking military official posted at GHQ has been detained for alleged links with an outlawed Banned group, Hizb ul Tahrir .

Brigadier Ali Khan who was posted at General Headquarters has been detained by the secret agencies for links with banned militant groups.

Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) has confirmed arrest of Brigadier Ali Khan.

According to sources Brig. Ali was arrested in the first week of last May. He was posted at the Regulation Directorate for last two years.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said Brig. Ali Khan was detained recently for suspected links with Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an Islamist organization that wants to re-establish the caliphate.

The army spokesman labeled the group a “proscribed militant organization.” But Hizb-ut-Tahrir insists it rejects violence, although observers say the group nonetheless promotes an intolerant mindset that can ultimately lead some followers to embrace militancy.

Abbas said the detention shows the army is determined to weed out bad actors, but also stressed that Khan was not linked to the Taliban, which is seen as much more of a threat by the West than Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

“We follow a zero percent tolerance for any breach of discipline or indulgence in any illegal activity,” Abbas told The Associated Press.

Khan’s wife never denied his Husband’s links with the Banned Organization, while insisted her husband was “totally innocent.”

“These allegations are totally rubbish,” she told the AP. She declined to give her first name because of cultural traditions as the family belongs to a Pashtun clan.

She said her husband went missing May 5, and she has been searching for information about his whereabouts since then. Authorities had assured her that he would soon return, she said.

She said her father-in-law served in the army as a junior commissioned officer, while her son and son-in-law were currently serving in the army.

“Our three generations have served the army, and none of our family members have any links with the militants,” she said.

Hizb-ut-Tahrir officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Although it is banned in some countries, including Pakistan and parts of Central Asia, the group is active in Western countries such as the United States, where it finds protection under free speech and association laws.

It is viewed to be a good tradition set by the Pakistani armed forces of the self cleansing , when its Ideology and links were questioned by the foreign and the Domestic Media ,as after the attacks on the GHQ , PNS Mehran , and the US Raid on the Abbotabad compound has raised many serious questions , In and out of Pakistan , about the penetration of the Pakistan armed forces with the Jihadi elements and there soft stance towards these elements.