Mohsin Dawar seeks probe into MNA Ali Wazir’s ‘abduction’ amid reports of arrest

Lawmaker Mohsin Dawar has sought a “comprehensive inquiry” into the “abduction” of fellow MNA Ali Wazir, who he said was arrested by authorities in North Waziristan on Monday and taken to an “undisclosed location”.

Dawar raised these concerns during a National Assembly session chaired by Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.

“Speaker sahib, early morning today, we received information that our MNA Ali Wazir was arrested near a checkpost in North Waziristan,” he said, claiming that “there is no clue regarding his whereabouts”.

Dawar said Ali’s companions, who were with him at the time of arrest, were also unaware of the latter’s location.

“Apparently, according to what is being run on social media, Wazir was arrested in North Waziristan but a case against him has been registered at the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cybercrime Circle in Peshawar,” he told the speaker, adding the law and Constitution had ceased to exist in the country.

Dawar requested the speaker to initiate a probe into Wazir’s arrest and determine his whereabouts. He highlighted that the NA had recently passed a law which required the speaker’s approval prior to arresting a lawmaker.

“The session is underway but permission was not taken from the speaker … this then means that this is not an arrest, but an abduction,” Dawar added.

Separately, in a tweet, Dawar said that Wazir’s arrest showed there was no rule of law in the country.

“He has been abducted. His whereabouts remain unknown. Speaker NA was not notified of his arrest,” the MNA added.

Meanwhile, Dawn.com reached out to the authorities for details pertaining to the purported case registered against Wazir but no information was provided.

It must be recalled that Wazir was released from Karachi jail earlier in February after being incarcerated for more than two years. He had been under arrest since December 2020 in several sedition cases.

FIA summons Wazir

Last week, Dawn reported that the FIA’s cybercrime cell had summoned Wazir over mutiny charges.

The notices said an inquiry had been initiated against the respondent for intentionally and publicly engaging in rhetoric against the armed forces through social media and the accused persons’ statements were likely to incite an officer or soldier to mutiny.

The deputy director of the cybercrime circle issued the notices on Friday (June 16).

The notices said the accused persons were directed to appear in person before the officials concerned to record their statements in their defence on June 23 for a fair trial.

The notices added that in case of non-appearance, it would be assumed that the respondents had nothing to present or state in their defence.