MNA Ali Wazir asks to be sent back to jail after attacks in hospital

KARACHI: After being attacked twice at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) MNA Ali Wazir has requested the authorities that he either be sent back to prison or be shifted to Islamabad to attend the National Assembly session.

The incarcerated lawmaker, who is facing charges of sedition and hate speech, said the Parliament has issued production orders for him to attend tomorrow's budget session.

Wazir was taken to the hospital a day earlier for a routine checkup.

"I have firstly been talking about the production orders issued for me by Parliament House and secondly, I have been attacked twice here. Therefore, have mercy on me and send me back to jail," he said while speaking outside the hospital late Wednesday night.

He added if either of the two requests are "illegal or unconstitutional", "then let me know".

A case was registered against the South Waziristan lawmaker and others — including Manzoor Pashteen and Mohsin Dawar — at Karachi's Sohrab Goth police station on the government's complaint. It was filed on December 7, 2020, after Wazir and others addressed a public rally in the same area a day earlier.

According to the first information report (FIR), the rally's organisers had not obtained prior permission to holding the event. "Speakers at the rally used hateful words against the Pakistan Army, Rangers, and others," it said.