BANNU: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday sent Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) leader and Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Ali Wazir to Peshawar Central Jail on judicial remand.
Amid strict security arrangements, Wazir was produced before the ATC, where the magistrate on duty, Muhammad Shoaib, issued directives for his transfer to Peshawar Central Jail. Wazir’s medical check-up was also conducted at the District Headquarters (DHQ) hospital.
PTM leader Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar along with nine others were booked in an attack on an army checkpost in North Waziristan, last month.
During the hearing, CTD officials pleaded the court to extend Wazir’s remand whereas the special magistrate turned downed the plea and ordered to move him [Ali Wazir] to the central jail.
On May 27, Special ATC Judge Babar Ali Khan had remanded the lawmaker into the custody of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) for eight days.
According to the court order, the investigating officer of the case had requested the court for 30-day physical remand of the lawmaker. However, the judge, after perusing the record, remanded Wazir to custody for eight days only.
Police had been directed to re-produce Wazir before the court on June 4.
The MNA was arrested following a clash between PTM supporters and army troops in the North Waziristan tribal district. On May 30, fellow MNA Mohsin Dawar was also taken into custody by law enforcement personnel from Miranshah in North Waziristan.
Three people were killed and 15, including five soldiers, were injured in an exchange of fire in North Waziristan’s Boyya area when the Kharqamar checkpoint was attacked during a protest on Sunday.
According to a statement by the army’s media wing, MNAs Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir were leading the group.
“A group led by Mohsin Javed [Dawar] and Ali Wazir assaulted Kharqamar check post, Boyya, North Waziristan tribal district. They wanted to exert pressure for the release of suspected terrorists’ facilitator arrested the other day,” added the statement, without specifying who the suspect was.
