Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM)-linked MNA Ali Wazir could not be released from jail despite being granted bail by the Sindh High Court (SHC), as hearing of his bail application in the third and final case against him has been adjourned till May 18 due to the absence of the Karachi Anti-Terrorism Court judge.
The original date of his bail hearing was supposed to be May 12, and if he was granted bail, he would have been released from jail after 17 months.
Ali Wazir was arrested on December 16, 2020 in Peshawar on account of allegedly making anti-state speeches against the Pakistani state. He was brought to Karachi and subsequently jailed in the Karachi Central Jail since December 31, 2020.
Wazir was involved in at least three separate sedition cases registered against him in Karachi and a similar case registered against him in Miran Shah, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The most recent case was registered in February, when he was ‘arrested’ again while already being incarcerated.
The MNA was produced before the judge of Anti-Terrorism Court-II on Monday where the investigating officer told the court that Wazir had been arrested for his involvement in a PTM rally held in Karachi in 2019.
He was released on parole to take part in the no-confidence vote held against former prime minister Imran Khan on April 10th, and was escorted by police for the occasion.
A letter 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, was written, asking for Wazir to be released under the issuance of production orders to attend the no-confidence motion, but he was released on parole instead.
