South Waziristan MNA and Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leader Ali Wazir on Tuesday was released from Karachi’s Central Jail after more than two years of incarceration.
Wazir had been jailed in Karachi since December 31, 2020, after being arrested in various sedition cases.
At the time of his release, several PTM leaders and activists gathered outside the central jail to greet him.
They decorated him with a garland and chanted slogans in his favour.
The PTM MNA, who was elected from NA-50, met with the prison staff and other inmates before his departure.
He is expected to leave for Islamabad.
Wazir’s lawyer Advocate Qadir Khan told the media that his client had been released after a court granted him bail in the final case against him.
The advocate added that his client had been arrested 26 months ago and languishing in prison ever since.
Khan said Wazir had been acquitted by an anti-terrorism court in one case and granted bail in three other cases registered against him in Karachi.
However, he pointed out that whenever Wazir was acquitted or granted bail in one case, he was booked in another case in Sindh or Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The lawyer further said three cases were registered against the lawmaker in K-P, and he had been granted bail in two of them earlier. He had now obtained bail in the third case on Tuesday.
Wazir’s release comes after sustained protests by the PTM, which has been advocating for the rights of Pashtuns in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
The PTM has alleged that the state has been engaged in human rights abuses against Pashtuns, including enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
National Democratic Movement MNA Mohsin Dawar shared a copy of the court’s verdict.
“Very happy for Ali Wazir who will finally be released today after spending more than two years in jail,” he tweeted.
Maintaining that every attempt was made to break Wazir's spirit and to keep him in jail but he had prevailed. “Justice cannot be denied forever,” Dawar added.
The National Commission for Human Rights in a statement shared on Twitter said it was “heartened” to hear the news of Wazir’s release.
Also taking to Twitter, PML-N Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed congratulated Wazir for “winning freedom” after over two years in prison.
“Finally, a wrong is reversed! Good luck for the future,” he added.
Former PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar described Wazir’s release as a “positive” development.
“Even incarceration and difficulties could not break his resolve,” he tweeted.
He added that where Wazir's detention had exposed the helplessness of this system, could we imagine that the country's establishment no longer wanted to bear the burden of its past mistakes. “I wish it was so,” he added.
ANP leader Aimal Wali Khan tweeted that he was “so happy” for Wazir.
PTM leader Manzoor Pashteen tweeted that after 26 months of incarceration, Wazir had been set free.
He added that the "cruel system had turned the Pakistani society into a bigger jail".
“So congratulations [to Wazir] on being released from a small jail to a bigger prison,” he added.
The PTM leader pledged to also “break the chains of the bigger jail through resistance”.
Hours after his release, Wazir tweeted that the “remnants” of General Douglas Gracey, former commander in chief of the Pakistan Army, surrendered in just 26 months.
“We were mentally prepared to fight for 26 years,” he added.
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