Pakistan Army files FIR against Pashtun leader Ali Wazir
Nov 05, 2020
Islamabad [Pakistan], November 6 : The Pakistani Army on Thursday filed an FIR against Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leader and Member of National Assembly (MNA) Ali Wazir.
According to sources, a state of unrest has fallen upon Waziristan following the news of the complaint filed against Ali.
His arrest order was issued just before the PTM's announcement of a protest rally at Miranshah, whose objective was to 'Stop lion to roar'.
Sources alleged that the Pakistan army did not want voices of dissent from all corners and that they were trying to silence dissenters through FIRs and arrests.
Ali was arrested last year along with another party leader Mohsin Dawar during a protest gathering in Kharqamar.
Ali's cousin, Arif Wazir, who was an outspoken critic of the Pakistani military, had succumbed to his injuries after unidentified persons opened fire at him near his house in Wana, the South Waziristan district of the country's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, earlier this year.
Arif was the 18th member of the Wazir family to be killed in a targeted attack, according to PTM.
According to a Dawn report, seven members of Arif's family were killed in a clash with terrorists near Wana in 2007. Those among the dead included his father Saadullah Jan and uncle Mirza Alam.
Pakistan Army has held the PTM responsible for running an anti-national agenda, whereas the party led by Manzoor Pashteen is raising the voice against the army's atrocities on the civilians in Pashtun dominated areas.
Then again, in January, Pashteen was arrested, and just a day later, Dawar was arrested with several others while protesting Pashteen's detention.
Pakistan came under strident criticism for Pashteen's arrest and he was finally released on bail on January 25.
PTM, a rights-based resistance movement in Pakistan, which has been critical of state policies in the tribal belt has ruffled feathers among the Pakistan military with its demand for a probe into gross human rights violations conducted by the Army. It has also been vocal against the government on the issue of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.
Ever since it was founded in 2018, the PTM has organised regular demonstrations against Pakistan Army's heavy-handed operations in tribal regions while the military has evidently chosen to crush the movement with its all too familiar tactics.
