KARACHI: Incarcerated MNA Ali Wazir was granted bail in a fourth case pertaining to alleged sedition’ by an antiterrorism court on Tuesday.
However, the South Waziristan lawmaker, who is jailed in Karachi central prison since December 31, 2020, could not be released since he could not immediately arrange the surety amount, totalling Rs1.9 million, in all the four cases lodged in Karachi, his defence counsel Qadir Khan said.
The ATC-XII judge, who was conducting the trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, pronounced his verdict today which was reserved after hearing arguments from both sides on Monday.
The judge granted post-arrest bail to the MNA against a surety of Rs100,000 in the case lodged at Karachi’s Boat Basin police station for allegedly delivering a speech and inciting the public against state institutions, defaming them and sedition in Boat Basin in 2018.
“However, Ali Wazir has also already been granted post-arrest bail in three other sedition cases registered at Karachi’s Sohrab Goth and Shah Latif police stations. So, the total surety amount comes to Rs1.9 million,” the defence counsel said.
“Therefore, it might take two or three days to arrange the surety amount. Until then, Ali Wazir will have to stay in the prison,” he added.
In November 2021, the Supreme Court granted bail to Wazir in one case lodged against him, along with Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) chief Manzoor Pashteen and other leaders, for delivering incendiary speeches at a rally within the jurisdiction of Sohrab Goth police station.
Later, the Sindh High Court in May granted him bail in a second identical case lodged at Sohrab Goth police station.
However, Karachi police had then booked him in a third case lodged at the Shah Latif Town police station against the PTM leaders over alleged hate speech against state institutions.
After the trial court granted bail to Wazir in the third case in July, the police filed a challan against him in a fourth case registered at the Boat Basin police station in May 2018.
The other three cases have been lodged against Pashteen and other leaders, including MNA Mohsin Dawar, Noorullah Tareen, Ahsanullah, Javed Raheem, Muhammad Sher Khan, Ibrahim, Muhammad Tahir alias Qazi Tahir, Sher Ayub, Baseerullah, Muhammad Sarwar and Muhammad Ullah.
The cases were lodged 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.
