The Pakistani state continues to view any difference of opinion as anti-state activity. Once again, Member of National Assembly from North Waziristan, Ali Wazir has been arbitrarily arrested over charges of hate speech and incitement just two months after his release in February 2023. As the other MNA from National Democratic Movement (NDM), Mohsin Dawar, noted in the National Assembly the arbitrariness of Ali Wazir’s arrest was akin to that that of an “abduction.”
Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Hina Jillani released a statement noting: “The military leadership should learn to accept that they are not the only guardians of Pakistan’s security. The [supporters and leaders] of the PTM have the right to choose the issue and the cause on which they base their political struggle. Pakistan’s security apparatus must now recognize that the PTM represents a certain section of the population in the region, where there are very difficult issues to resolve. This antagonism must end now.”
As an editorial in Dawn noted with Wazir’s re-arrest, “the state’s cat-and-mouse game with the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement seems to have resumed in earnest.” As Dawn pointed out, “Mr Wazir has lost much of his family in terrorist attacks. He has remained a vocal critic of Pakistan’s flawed security policies and consistently condemns state excesses, including those seen in recent days. It is, therefore, unrealistic to expect him to modulate his criticism of what he believes to be the reasons behind the unimaginable suffering he, and others like him, have experienced first-hand.”
It is important the Dawn editorial pointed out that “if there is a fresh case against him, it should be taken up in a court of law; meanwhile, the NA speaker should issue a production order so that Mr Wazir can at least represent his constituency in the ongoing budget session. Our lawmakers have recently made much of the ‘supremacy’ of parliament. It must be asked: what good is such supremacy when the same parliament cannot even protect its own members from having their privileges breached with impunity?”
