Ali Wazir Gets Bail Approved In Final Case. Will He Be Released Now?

Ali Wazir Gets Bail Approved In Final Case. Will He Be Released Now?
Incarcerated Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) affiliated MNA Ali Wazir was granted bail in the fourth and final case against him on Tuesday and could be released soon.

Ali Wazir's lawyer Qadir Khan appeared on Naya Daur TV on Tuesday. Responding to Naya Daur TV's Ailia Zehra question about whether Ali Wazir might actually be released soon, Qadir Khan said that it's hard to predict anything because the attitude of the prosecution is 'apparent to everybody'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLanPhIS48M

"In December 2020, he was arrested on one case, and then when he got bail from the Supreme Court of Pakistan, another case was filed against him," he said, adding that after Ali got bail in the second case, a third and then fourth case were filed against him. "However it seems like at the moment there isn't a fifth case being filed against him...or maybe there is one, and we'll find out in the coming days because there is no telling with these people [the prosecution].

Qadir said that the fourth 'sedition' case against Wazir was quite weak and there wasn't much concrete evidence against him. It claimed that Wazir had tried to incite the public against state institutions at a speech given at Boat Basin in Karachi in 2018. Qadir however said, "Ali Wazir was sitting in a flat and called a corner meeting for the preparation of a jalsa. A corner meeting is specifically called just for the purpose of making arrangements, not to give speeches."

Wazir's lawyer said that the prosecution claimed that there were two witnesses who had filed the case against him, however the witnesses haven't been named in either of the two challans filed, adding that the prosecution was trying its best to get his bail appeal rejected. Wazir is still hospitalized at Jinnah Hospital in Karachi, and is awaiting the reports of some tests that were conducted, so that he can be given a diagnosis. He will remain hospitalized till the doctors deem him fit to be discharged.

When asked about when he can be expected to be released, Qasir said that Wazir's friends in the PTM weren't very affluent, and so weren't able to arrange the surety bond immediately, but will hopefully have it by Wednesday. After this the process for his release will begin, and he could be released in another 2-3 days after.

Answering a question about who is responsible for Ali Wazir's mistreatment and continued incarceration in 'fake sedition cases'; the establishment or the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led Sindh government, which is where the fourth case was filed, Qadir said it was the civil government's responsibility because the police and the prosecution is under them. He said that the prosecution right now under the current government is behaving worse than under the last government.

Ali Wazir was first 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, which is where he has been since December 31, 2020.