Elected Pashtun Leader Arrested In Pakistan

Police arrested Member of National Assembly (MNA) and Pashtun leader Ali Wazir here on Wednesday in connection with a case registered against him and several leaders of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) in Karachi after a recent public meeting by the country’s opposition.

The PTM leaders were accused of committing several offences, including hatching a criminal conspiracy and passing derogatory remarks against state institutions, reported Dawn.

Peshawar Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Mohammad Ali Gandapur said that Wazir was arrested at the request of the Sindh police.

The CCPO said that Wazir would be shifted to Karachi after fulfilling legal requirements, and would be produced before a court on Thursday to get his transit custody for shifting him to Karachi.

According to Dawn, witnesses said Wazir was arrested after he attended a ceremony held at Shuhada APS Public Library in connection with the sixth anniversary of the Army Public School attack, where 147 people were killed.

Several leaders of the PTM, who have also been charged in the case, were also present but were not arrested.

Apart from Wazir, others named in the FIR include PTM chief Manzoor Pashteen and MNA Mohsin Dawar among others.

The complainant in the case claimed that when he reached the venue of the public meeting he saw the suspects addressing around 2,000 participants and trying to create hatred towards different groups and to create law and order problems, Dawn reported.

This comes as the rattled Imran Khan’s government registered a case against a central leadership of opposition’s 11-party alliance — Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — for causing irreparable damage to a national asset at the rally in Lahore. (ANI)