Lawmaker Ali Wazir was arrested on Monday from North Waziristan, months after he was freed from prison in Karachi after spending over 2 years in detention on charges of sedition.
Confirming the development during a speech in the National Assembly, MNA Mohsin Dawar—also from North Waziristan—said it was still unclear why Wazir had been placed under arrest. However, he noted, reports suggested that the Federal Investigation Agency had taken the lawmaker into custody. “It is being said that the cybercrime wing had registered a case against him. There’s a session going on and the speaker’s permission wasn’t sought for his arrest,” he said, lamenting that the incident could not be described as an “arrest” in the absence of any formal charges and was more akin to an “abduction.”
He also stressed that legally no MNA could be placed under arrest without the explicit approval of the speaker while a session of the Lower House was underway. Urging Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to seek details about Wazir’s arrest from authorities, he said “for now” his well-wishers considered him to have been kidnapped.
Lamenting that was “no rule of law” in the country, Dawar said it was unfortunate that despite 25 agencies functioning in the country, none were acting as per law. Wazir, per reports, was traveling to Islamabad to participate in the ongoing budget debate when he was taken into custody.
Wazir’s arrest on Monday comes within days of the FIA’s cybercrime circle summoning him and Manzoor Pashteen over mutiny charges for social posts. In its notice, the agency had summoned Wazir, Pashteen and three others to its Peshawar office on June 23.
An MNA from South Waziristan, Wazir was released on Feb. 14 from the Karachi Central Jail after over two years in jail on charges of sedition linked to alleged “hate speeches” against state institutions. Wazir has repeatedly denied the charges.