April 2, 2026
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
A constitutional bench of the Sindh High Court’s Circuit Court in Hyderabad has issued notices to senior provincial government and police officials after hearing a petition filed by former Member of National Assembly Ali Wazir, who has challenged two FIRs registered against him by Dadu police on the night of his release from Sukkur Central Jail.
The bench, comprising Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry and Justice Riazat Ali Sahar, took up constitutional petition No. D-607/2026 and directed all respondents to submit their explanations before the next hearing, fixed for April 22.
Notices have been issued to the Province of Sindh through the Secretary of the Home Department, the Inspector General of Police Sindh, the Deputy Inspector General of Police Hyderabad Division, the Additional Advocate General Sindh, the Additional Prosecutor General Sindh, the SSP Dadu, and the station house officers of A-Section and B-Section police stations in Dadu.
Wazir’s counsel, Advocate Imdad Hyder Solangi, told Voicepk that the legal team had clubbed two petitions before the court, seeking the quashment of both FIRs. “The timing of these FIRs speaks for itself,” Solangi said. “They were registered within hours — in one case, the very same evening — of his release on court orders.” Ali Wazir is imprisoned in Dadu jail on judicial remand since March 19.
The FIRs
The first FIR, No. 93/2026, was lodged by ASI Nazar Ali Laghari of PS A-Section Dadu at 9:30 pm on March 16 — the same evening Wazir walked free from Sukkur Central Jail following a Sindh High Court order. It invokes Sections 123-A, 124-A, and 124-B of the Pakistan Penal Code, along with Sections 6 and 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. The FIR alleges that a group acting on Wazir’s instructions blocked a road, carried PTM flags and weapons, chanted slogans against the state and the Pakistan Army, and opened fire on police before fleeing.
The second FIR, No. 40/2026, was registered the following day, March 17, by the B-Section Police Station in Dadu. It accuses Wazir of instigating an armed assault on police officers and obstructing them in the performance of their duties.
According to the FIR, police observed approximately 25 to 27 individuals — faces uncovered and carrying PTM flags — blocking a road and chanting anti-government slogans demanding Wazir’s release. When officers asked the protesters to disperse, they allegedly refused, claiming Wazir had instructed them to create disorder as a condition for his release and to resist any future arrest.
The FIR further alleges that when additional officers arrived, the protesters opened fire with intent to kill, prompting police to retaliate before the accused fled.
A pattern of detention
The petition places both FIRs within what Wazir’s legal team describes as a sustained pattern of judicially-manufactured detention. Since 2024, he has faced multiple terrorism and sedition charges across Sindh, alongside at least three Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) detention orders spanning Punjab, Sindh, Islamabad, and Balochistan.
His lawyers contend that each time a court granted bail or struck down a detention order, a fresh one would follow from a different district administration.
Wazir had been held at Sukkur Central Jail in connection with multiple FIRs invoking anti-terrorism laws in Dadu, Sukkur, Naushahro Feroze, and Nawabshah. An Anti-Terrorism Court in Sukkur acquitted him in two of those cases in August and September 2025.
A third FIR was cancelled by a judicial magistrate in Naushahro Feroze after the ATC found it lacked the requisite element of terror. A fourth, filed under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, was investigated by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), whose officer submitted a report on March 3, 2026, stating that Wazir had committed no offence under the law. The Sindh High Court’s Circuit Court in Hyderabad subsequently ordered his release on March 10, 2026.
Despite the release order, Wazir’s ordeal did not end at the jail gate.
The petition states that upon returning home with family and associates on the evening of March 16, a large contingent of police and plainclothes law enforcement personnel arrived in government vehicles at around 9:30 to 10:00 pm and forcibly detained him. Mobile phones were seized, those present were assaulted, and family members were allegedly warned against approaching any court.
His whereabouts remained unknown for two days. A habeas corpus petition was eventually filed before the District Judge Sukkur on March 18, followed by a constitutional petition before the Sindh High Court the next day. Wazir was finally produced before the Anti-Terrorism Court in Naushahro Feroze on March 19. He was sent to Dadu jail on judicial remand for two weeks by the court.
Relief sought
Through the current petition, Wazir’s legal team has asked the court to restrain the investigation officers from submitting challans until the petition is decided. It has also requested the court to direct the Inspector General of Police Sindh to prevent his subordinates from registering further FIRs against Wazir in the future. The matter will next be heard on April 22.