March 18, 2026
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
A habeas corpus petition has been filed before the District and Sessions Judge in Sukkur, seeking the recovery of former parliamentarian and Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leader Ali Wazir, whose whereabouts have remained unknown since Monday night. Wazir was taken into custody by police and plainclothed officials from the Sukkur residence of a friend — hours after a high court had ordered his release from prison.
Senior police officials made respondents
The petition was submitted by Badshah Pashteen, Wazir’s driver and close aide, against the alleged abduction and enforced disappearance of the former member of the National Assembly.
According to the petition, Wazir had attended an iftar dinner at a friend’s home following his release from Sukkur Central Prison when a large number of police and law enforcement officials, travelling in five or six private and government vehicles, forcibly entered the premises.
Those present, including Wazir, were subjected to mistreatment before he was bundled into a Vigo pickup truck and driven away — an incident captured on video that subsequently circulated on social media.
The Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Sukkur, the Senior Superintendent of Police (SP) Sukkur, and the Station House Officer (SHO) of the ABAD police station have been named as respondents in the petition.
Pashteen stated that upon approaching the ABAD police station immediately after the incident, the SHO denied having custody of Wazir. Relatives and friends made all possible efforts to trace his whereabouts and attempted to contact senior police officials, but were denied access.
Legal proceedings
Imdad Hyder Solangi, counsel for Ali Wazir, confirmed that the habeas corpus petition was submitted to the court on Wednesday. Due to time constraints, notices to the respondent officials are expected to be issued the following day.
“The petition will be heard after the Eid vacations by the court,” Solangi told Voicepk.
Wazir’s release on March 16, 2026, had marked what many hoped would be the end of a prolonged legal ordeal. His most recent period of incarceration had begun in August 2024. Despite being granted bail in his final active case — a cybercrime matter — on March 10, bureaucratic delays kept him behind bars for an additional week.
The constitutional bench of the Sindh High Court, headed by Justice Arbab Ali Hakro and Justice Riazat Ali Sehar, ultimately ruled that holding Wazir without a pending trial or investigation violated Article 9 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to personal liberty, declaring his detention “illegal, unlawful, and unconstitutional.”
His legal representatives had described his journey through the justice system as a “relentless cycle” of arrests. Since 2024, Wazir faced multiple charges and at least three Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) detention orders spanning Punjab, Sindh, Islamabad, and Balochistan. “Each time a court granted him bail or struck down a detention order, a new order would be issued by a different district administration to keep him in custody,” his legal team noted.
Health concerns
The petition flags grave concern over Wazir’s health. Pashteen noted that Wazir suffers from multiple serious conditions — high blood pressure, diabetes, a chronic heart ailment, and kidney disease — and cannot survive without his prescribed medications. Supporters and family members have alleged that he was denied regular medical check-ups during his nearly two-year incarceration, concerns that now take on added urgency given that his current location remains unknown.
Wazir’s arrest a contempt of court: Afrasiab Khattak
The re-arrest has drawn sharp condemnation from political leaders. Former senator and National Democratic Movement (NDM) leader Afrasiab Khattak said Wazir had faced cases and arrests ever since he spoke out against the Khar Kamar massacre in North Waziristan. “He was a victim of the Khar Kamar incident, but the authorities implicated him in it,” Khattak said. He further argued that the present government was behaving worse than the colonial British Raj, adding that re-arresting Wazir within hours of a court-ordered release amounted to contempt of court. “In British India, anti-colonial political prisoners were sent to Kala Pani — the islands in the Indian Ocean. After the formation of Pakistan, Pashtun political prisoners are taken to Sindh,” he said. Fellow NDM leader Bushra Gauhar was equally unsparing. “Is this a joke? Why was Ali Wazir kidnapped by Sindh Police in the middle of the night? What false cases are being fabricated against him now? Who is the Sindh government accountable to? Is this the rule of law? This cruelty must stop,” she said in a post on X.