Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM)-linked MNA Ali Wazir has been released from Karachi Central Jail on parole to vote on the no-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan.
According to senior police officials, Ali will be handed over to court police, who will transport him to Islamabad for the National Assembly session.
On March 25, the joint opposition wrote a letter to National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser seeking the issuance of production orders for incarcerated MNA to attend to the no-trust motion. Instead of production orders, Wazir was ultimately released on parole.
The letter was signed by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, President of the Balochistan National Party Akhtar Mengal, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) leader Asad Mehmood and National Democratic Movement (NDM) President Mohsin Dawar.
Ali Wazir, is an independent MNA from South Waziristan, has been held in custody in Central Jail Karachi since December 31, 2020, when he was first arrested for sedition in the provincial capital. Wazir faces at least three separate sedition cases registered against him in Karachi and a similar case registered against him in Miran Shah, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Wazir had been granted post-arrest bail by the Supreme Court on November 30, 2021, but an anti-terrorism court in Karachi, ATC-XII, had requested additional verification, stalling his release before his arrest was ordered in another case.
Most recently, he was formally arrested again in February another sedition case for organising a Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) rally where participants were accused of raising ‘anti-state’ slogans.
