Ali Wazir’s bail plea hearing put off due to prosecutor’s absence

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday put off for a third straight day hearing on a bail plea of detained Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) MNA Ali Wazir in a sedition case.

Wazir, who faces three sedition cases filed in Karachi, has been charged along with Alam Zaib and Maulana Muhammad Tahir, for violence, making speeches against state institutions and sedition on January 20, 2019 in Sohrab Goth. He has been behind bars since December 31, 2020.

The ATC-II judge on Wednesday took up the bail application moved by the lawmaker seeking post-arrest bail to hear arguments from the prosecution. However, the case was adjourned due to the absence of the state prosecutor.

The judge directed the prosecutor to forward his arguments on the bail plea on the next date of hearing set for May 26. The present case against Ali Wazir and others pertains to organising a rally in Sohrab Goth where they allegedly chanted slogans and made speeches, inciting the public against the state and defaming state institutions.

Last year on November 30, the Supreme Court had granted post-arrest bail to Ali Wazir against a surety of Rs4000,000. He had approached the top court after the Sindh High Court and the ATC denied him bail.

The cases have been registered against him at the Sohrab Goth and Shah Latif Town police stations under sections 147 (rioting), 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot, if rioting be committed; if not committed), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups etc), 500 (punishment for defamation) and 505 (statement conducing to public mischief) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with the Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.