Ali Wazir, Imaan Mazari arrested on terrorism, sedition charges

Court remands PTM leader, rights lawyer in police custody

ISLAMABAD:

Former lawmaker Ali Wazir and human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari were remanded in police custody on Sunday, hours after their arrest from the federal capital on various charges.

“Islamabad Capital Police has arrested Ali Wazir and Iman Mazari. Both the accused were wanted by the Islamabad Police for investigation. All action will be taken in accordance with law,” the capital’s police said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday morning.

According to a First Information Report (FIR) shared on social media, Wazir and Mazari were among dozens of people booked under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for being part of a Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) rally that on Friday tried to “interfere in state affairs”.

🚨🚨#EXCLUSIVE: Copy of FIR against @ImaanZHazir. pic.twitter.com/wJlWj4DSYv

— Asad Ali Toor (@AsadAToor) August 20, 2023

The FIR said several participants of the rally were armed with sticks and some even with weapons. They attempted to defy authorities and march on the capital. Subsequently, the main highway, GT Road, was blocked by the protestors that proceeded to hold a rally in the middle of the road.

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As the security personnel tried to stop the participants, they attacked a government vehicle, engaged in altercations with officials and even managed to forcefully take an anti-riot kit away from an officer, the FIR claimed.

On Sunday morning, Wazir and Imaan were presented in the court of District and Sessions Judge Ihtasham Alam amid heightened security. The media was barred from entering the courtroom, where the prosecutor requested the judge to remand the two in police custody.

Shireen Mazari, former human rights minister and mother of Imaan, came to the rostrum. The former PTI leader protested against the “illegal manner” in which authorities raided her residence in the wee hours of Sunday by breaking the main gate and arresting her daughter without showing arrest warrant.

Just now police women, plainclothes people and r ager types took my daughter away after braking down our front door. Taking away our security cameras and her laptop and cell. We asked who they had xome for and they just dragged Imaan out. They marched all over the house. My…

— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) August 19, 2023

“They also pushed and shoved me and snatched my mobile phone,” she said.

The judge asked her to approach the relevant forum for lodging this complaint. He, however, instructed the investigation officer to return the former minister’s mobile phone to her, “if it was not needed”.

Serious allegations

Meanwhile, the prosecution showed the judge a second FIR lodged against Wazir and Mazari by Islamabad's Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) containing allegations of sedition and terrorism.

Read More Ali Wazir released after 26 months

The judge remanded Wazir in police custody for two days and Mazari for one-day in view of the first case registered at Tarnol Police Station. He, however, ordered authorities to present them in the court again on Monday [today] in view of the second FIR.

The second FIR lodged under sections 124A, 153A, 153, 506, 149 and 148 of the PPC and sections 7, 11W and 21i of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997 claimed that at the Friday rally, Mazari and PTM leaders tried to incite rebellion among heads, officers and employees of state institutions.

It alleged that the protest leaders tried to incite government officials to break their oath of allegiance while also trying to undermine the army and promote terrorism.

“They threatened the judiciary, legislature and executive with serious consequences.

“They used derogatory epithets [for state organs] in order to spread hatred among the public; fan terrorism; incite rebellion; spark civil war and civil disobedience while motivating people to resort to an armed struggle,” it said.