ATC clears MNA Ali Wazir in sedition case

 An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Karachi on Tuesday finally acquitted MNA Ali Wazir in a sedition case related to delivering a controversial speech against state institutions at a rally in the country’s economic hub in in 2018.

Wazir, who has spent four years in prison at Karachi Central Jail, was cleared of the charges along with 12 others.

The ATC passed the order after the prosecution failed to prove the charges against him.

The lawyer representing Wazir said his client was arrested in Peshawar in December 2020 on charges of hate speech and criminal conspiracy.

He added that the case against the lawmaker was registered at Sohrab Goth police station in Karachi.

However, Wazir is still facing trial in three other similar cases registered in Karachi.

Last month, the MNA was granted bail in a similar case by the ATC.

However, he could not be set free as he could not immediately arrange the surety amount of Rs1.9 million in all the four cases registered in Karachi.

The MNA also faces a sedition case in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Miranshah.

In November 2021, the Supreme Court granted bail to Wazir in one case registered against him at the Sohrab Goth police station, along with Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) chief Manzoor Pashteen and other leaders, for delivering allegedly inciting speeches at the Karachi rally.

In May that year, the Sindh High Court granted him bail in a second similar case registered at Sohrab Goth police station.
But a third case was filed against him at Shah Latif Town police station as well as other PTM leaders over their alleged hate speech against state institutions.

After a court granted bail to Wazir in the third case in July, the police filed a challan against him in a fourth case registered at  Boat Basin police station in May 2018.

The other three cases have been registered against Pashteen and others including MNA Mohsin Dawar.

The cases were registered under Sections 124-A (sedition), 125 (waging war against any power in alliance with Pakistan), 147 (punishment for 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), 505 (statement conducing to public mischief) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 on behalf of the state.

However, the others were not arrested unlike Wazir.