PPP, PML-N condemn arrest of PTM MNA Ali Wazir

Police in Peshawar say MNA arrested over a case registered against him in Karachi

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz have condemned the arrest of National Assembly Member (MNA) and Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leader Ali Wazir.

PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday condemned the arrest of MNA and Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leader Ali Wazir a day earlier, terming it “against democratic traditions”.

Wazir was arrested by police in Peshawar on Wednesday in connection with a case registered against him and several other PTM leaders in Karachi after a recent public meeting. Police said that Wazir had been arrested at the request of the Sindh police.

In the case lodged at the Sohrab Goth police station in Karachi, the PTM leaders had been accused of committing several offences, including hatching criminal conspiracy and passing derogatory remarks against the state institutions.

#Peshawar: Today MNA @Aliwazirna50 has been arrested by police without arrest warrant, #shameful #ReleaseAliWazir pic.twitter.com/JlBK9MuwtI

— sifatullah wazir (@WazirSifatullah) December 16, 2020

Bilawal said on Thursday that holding public meetings was no crime to arrest an elected representative. “Arrest of the elected member of the Assembly in this way [is] against the democratic traditions,” he said in a statement.

PPP Sindh President Nisar Khuhro said, when asked about the arrest, told reporters that the lawmaker had not been arrested by the Sindh government. However, when asked the case of was lodged in Sindh, where the PPP is in government, he said that he did not have details.

Meanwhile, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz said that she condemned the lawmaker’s arrest. “It will cause cracks in Pakistan’s unity; we are all equal Pakistanis,” she said, while responding to question at a press conference in Lahore.