By Abdullah Zahid
PESHAWAR: Member National Assembly from South Waziristan and a leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement Ali Wazir was handed over to the personnel of the Sindh Police on the order of a local court here on Thursday. Ali Wazir was arrested from Peshawar on Wednesday after the Sindh Police sought help from the local cops. The MNA had come to Peshawar to participate in an event on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the terrorist attack on the Army Public School when he was taken into custody.
A large number of Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) workers accompanied Ali Wazir when he was produced before the judicial magistrate in Peshawar. The court directed that Ali Wazir be handed over to the Sindh Police.
His lawyers requested the court to allow Ali Wazir to be taken by air due to his health condition. He will be presented before a court in Karachi in a case lodged against him and other PTM activists at the Sohrab Goth Police Station on December 6.
Officials said the Sindh Police personnel had come to Peshawar for his arrest. The Peshawar Police helped them take custody of Ali Wazir.
Many on social media have been demanding the early release of Ali Wazir and condemning the arrest of the sitting member of the parliament.
“Fascist govts implicate elected representatives in false cases”: Bilawal on Wazir’s arrest
Meanwhile, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday condemned the arrest of Pakhtun Tehfiz Movement (PTM) MNA Mohammad Ali Wazir a day earlier, terming the move as one of a “fascist” government.
Bilawal on Thursday criticised the arrest, saying “holding public meetings [is] no crime to arrest an elected representative”. Bilawal-led PPP is the ruling party in Sindh.
“Arrest of the elected member of the Assembly in this way [is] against the democratic traditions,” a statement issued by the PPP quoted him as saying.
Terming cases registered against elected representatives and political leaders as “baseless”, Bilawal said such acts “won’t bring good results if the regime continue[s] to muzzle the freedom of expression”.
He said it had been the modus operandi of “fascist governments” to implicate elected representatives in false cases to crush the public voice.
“The selected government is also trying to eliminate the democratic voices by adopting fascist tools,” he added, referring to the PTI-led government in the Centre.
