Pakistani Sindh police have arrested Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leader and former National Assembly member Ali Wazir in another case and presented him in court.
Ali Wazir’s lawyer, Imdad Haider Solangi, told, that police presented Wazir in an anti-terrorism court in Naushero Feroz on March 19. Police wanted the court to hand Wazir over for questioning, but the judge ordered him sent to Dadu jail on judicial remand.
Solangi said Wazir was arrested in connection with a case registered against him in Dadu in 2026. According to Solangi, the case also accuses Wazir of making anti-state speeches and inciting people, charges Wazir and PTM strongly deny, saying he’s only fought peacefully for Pashtun rights.
This comes after a two-member bench of the Sindh High Court’s Hyderabad branch granted Wazir bail on March 10 and ordered his immediate release in a separate case. However, he was rearrested hours after being released from Sukkur jail on March 16 and had been missing since.
On March 17, PTM member Adil Shah told, that after his release, Wazir had iftar at a friend’s house in Sukkur and was planning to head to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. But, according to Shah, men in plain clothes, including police, raided the house and took Wazir away.
The Sindh government and Sukkur police haven’t made an official statement about Wazir’s rearrest. Human rights activists and various political parties are deeply concerned, calling it unlawful, and demanding his immediate release.
This comes after Ali Wazir was arrested by Islamabad police on August 3, 2024, on charges of vehicle collision, possession of narcotics, and clashing with police. Though courts granted him bail, he wasn’t released and was transferred from Islamabad to Rawalpindi, then to various Punjab jails, and eventually to Hub, Baluchistan.
In all those locations, police accused him of making anti-security forces speeches and inciting people against the state. In written reports, Punjab’s district administrators (Deputy Commissioners) stated that if Wazir is released, he’ll disrupt public order.
But Wazir’s lawyers and PTM leaders call these claims baseless, saying they’re efforts to silence him. Ali Wazir has been arrested and released multiple times before. He was arrested by Dera Ismail Khan police on November 14, 2023, and released on bail on November 21.
Earlier, Peshawar police arrested Wazir in December 2020 at Karachi police’s request, accusing him of spreading hatred and making anti-state speeches. He was later handed over to Sindh police. After 26 months in jail, he was released on February 14, 2023.
Wazir was arrested on May 26, 2019, following the Khar qamar incident in North Waziristan and spent around five months in jail. He was released on bail from Haripur jail, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on September 20, 2019.
Ali Wazir is known for criticizing Pakistan’s security policies, alleging the military fuels militancy instead of ending it.
The Pakistani military and government have always denied these allegations, saying they’ve made significant sacrifices in the war on terror.
By- Laiba Yousafzai
