ATC dismisses plea to extend Mohsin Dawar's physical remand

Court orders Counter Terrorism Department to move the MNA to Peshawar Central Jail owing to security concerns

BANNU: An anti-terrorism court on Friday dismissed a plea by Counter Terrorism Department requesting an extension for MNA Mohsin Dawar’s physical remand.

PTM's Mohsin Dawar remanded in CTD custody for eight days after arrest

Rejecting the plea, Magistrate on Duty Inamullah ordered authorities to move the MNA to Peshawar Central Jail owing to security concerns.

Dawar, accused of leading an assault on a security check post in North Waziristan, was arrested last week.

Another MNA from North Waziristan, Ali Wazir, is already in police custody over charges of leading the May 26 attack on Kharqamar check post in the Boya area of the tribal district.

According to the military’s media wing, the two Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement leaders incited a group of people to attack the check post in an attempt to forcibly secure the release of a terrorists’ facilitator triggering a fire exchange which resulted in multiple casualties.

The two lawmakers deny the charge.

The HRCP expressed alarm over the use of military force and said such actions “will be detrimental to the interests of the country and its citizens.”

“This [May 26 incident] will further escalate tensions between PTM supporters and security institutions, consequently leading to a permanent wedge between the people of tribal districts and the state.

Dawar, Wazir are lawmakers, not terrorists: Bilawal tells Fawad

There must be a serious attempt to genuinely address the grievances of the local population, which the PTM has been articulating peacefully for well over a year,” the rights body said in a statement.

Leader of the opposition in the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif also expressed his grief over the incident and demanded that the facts be brought to parliament.

He maintained that politicising the incident would be a “national crime” and “every patriotic Pakistani must play their role in keeping in mind the sensitivity of the situation”.