September 4, 2023
Ahmed Saeed
LAHORE
An Islamabad court has extended the physical remand of former MNA from South Waziristan Tribal District, Ali Wazir, for three more days and handed him over to the Islamabad police for further investigation.
Wazir was arrested on September 2, in connection with a terror funding case registered at Bara Kahu Police under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997.
On September 3rd, Sunday, Ali Wazir appeared before a duty judge who remanded him in police custody for one day.
“Ali Wazir was due to present before a judge of the Anti-Terrorism Court of Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain but in the morning, we were told that the judge is on leave till Friday. Then our cases were shifted to duty judge Raja Jawad Abbas, who extended his physical remand for three days,” said Wazir’s lawyer Attaullah Kundi while talking to Voicepk.
The court also extended the physical remand of four other PTM activists, including Kamran, Aulat Yaar, Fida, and Badshah Pashteen, who were arrested in the same case, for an additional three days.
Notably, prominent rights activist and lawyer Iman Zainab Mazari had also been arrested in the same FIR but was granted bail by ATC judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain on September 2nd.
As per Kundi, during today’s hearing, the judge asked Ali Wazir to give his statement on the FIR related to alleged terror funding. In response, Wazir informed the judge that he had never visited the Bara Kahu area and had never met the complainant in his entire life.
Kundi also quoted Ali Wazir as saying, ‘We do not collect funds to spread terror. In fact, we are the ones who have been the worst affected by terrorism for the past three decades. We collect funds from our people to raise our voices against rising militancy and extremism in our areas. I have been fighting against terrorism all my life. Our entire movement is based on non-violence, so how can we be accused of promoting violence?'”
Following this statement, the duty judge inquired whether the former MNA was listed among proscribed persons, to which the prosecutor replied in the negative. The judge then extended Ali Wazir’s remand for three more days, with the next court appearance scheduled for Thursday, September 7th.
Ali Wazir has been in custody since August 20th, a day after he addressed a PTM rally in Tarnol, Islamabad. He, along with other PTM activists, including Manzoor Pashteen and activist Iman Mazari, was booked in two FIRs registered by Tarnol Police Station and the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) police station under rioting and sedition charges, respectively.
It is important to note that ATC Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain granted post-arrest bail to Wazir and Iman in the sedition case on August 28th.
Ali Wazir’s passionate speeches have led to multiple charges of sedition and anti-terrorism. In December 2020, he was arrested by police in Peshawar and later transferred to Karachi, where he was named in five separate first information reports (FIRs) for allegedly making anti-state remarks. He remained in prison until February 2023. Additionally, he was taken into custody on June 19, 2023, for staging a sit-in outside Miranshah cantonment but was released a few days later.
