The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday granted bail to the leader of Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) Ali Wazir in the hate speech case.
Wazir is a member of National Assembly from South Waziristan and was arrested in December 2020 following accusations of ‘criminal conspiracy’ and ‘making derogatory comments about state institutions’. The alleged comments had been made in a protest gathering in Karachi, and a case was registered against the lawmaker and other leaders of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), of which Wazir is a part.
On Wednesday, Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro headed the two-member bench that accepted the bail plea. Wazir also has to submit a surety bond worth Rs.0.5 million.
Lawyer of Wazir said in the court that his client was languishing in the jail, while the co-accused in the case MNA Mohsin Dawar was likely to become a state minister.
The SHC, after reviewing the transcript of the speech made by Ali Wazir, said that how a police constable could judge the context of the language. The speech was in Pashto so how a constable could comprehend that the speech had ‘hatred against state’, he added.
The judge also asked about Dawar not being arrested in which the investigation officer said that they needed the permission from the speaker of the National Assembly for arresting Dawar. Wazir on the other hand was already arrested in a case registered at Sohrab Goth police station.
The judge also said that this case was pending since 2020 and the police had failed to record any statement from the witnesses. He further observed that the police did not even bother to investigate the case before arresting Wazir.
While commenting on Wazir’s bail MNA Mohsin Dawar tweeted that they were hoping for the courts to do justice.
There is another bail plea which is all set to be heard on Thursday.
