MNAs Ali Wazir, Mohsin Dawar granted bail in Kharqamar attack case

Published September 18, 2019
he two MNAs, who are leaders of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), were initially charged in an FIR registered at the CTD police station, Bannu, on May 26. — Reuters/File
he two MNAs, who are leaders of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), were initially charged in an FIR registered at the CTD police station, Bannu, on May 26. — Reuters/File

Peshawar High Court's Bannu bench on Wednesday accepted the bail pleas of lawmakers Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar in the Kharqamar attack case.

Justice Nasir Mehmood, who heard the bail applications of Dawar and Wazir in Bannu, asked the MNAs to report to police once a month.

They will be released after legal formalities are completed. The MNAs have been asked to provide surety bonds worth Rs1 million each.

"The bench has given us conditional bail," said Abdul Latif Afridi, the lawyer representing the MNAs, adding that the Anti-Terrorism Law 21-D allows a judge to impose certain conditions on admission to bail.

"The judge gave a verbal order; we are waiting for the written one," Afridi told Dawn.

The two MNAs, who are leaders of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), were initially charged in an FIR registered at the Counter Terro­rism Department (CTD) police station, Bannu, on May 26 after a clash between PTM members and Army personnel near the Kharqamar check post in North Waziristan, which had resulted in the deaths of 13 persons and injuries to several others.

Separately, they were charged in the instant case registered on June 7 at the CTD police station, Bannu, after an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded on a road in Doga Macha, North Waziristan, when an Army convoy was passing through the area. The blast had left four Army officials — a lieutenant colonel, a major, a captain and a lance havildar — martyred.

A Bannu anti-terrorism court last month had granted bail to the PTM leaders in the second case pertaining to the blast in Doga Macha.

Both Wazir and Dawar were already in CTD custody at the time of the IED blast ─ they had been arrested following the May 26 Kharqamar checkpost attack. Wazir had been taken into custody the day of the attack, while Dawar surrendered himself to security forces a few days later.

Opinion

Editorial

Enrolment drive
Updated 10 May, 2024

Enrolment drive

The authorities should implement targeted interventions to bring out-of-school children, especially girls, into the educational system.
Gwadar outrage
10 May, 2024

Gwadar outrage

JUST two days after the president, while on a visit to Balochistan, discussed the need for a political dialogue to...
Save the witness
10 May, 2024

Save the witness

THE old affliction of failed enforcement has rendered another law lifeless. Enacted over a decade ago, the Sindh...
May 9 fallout
Updated 09 May, 2024

May 9 fallout

It is important that this chapter be closed satisfactorily so that the nation can move forward.
A fresh approach?
09 May, 2024

A fresh approach?

SUCCESSIVE governments have tried to address the problems of Balochistan — particularly the province’s ...
Visa fraud
09 May, 2024

Visa fraud

THE FIA has a new task at hand: cracking down on fraudulent work visas. This was prompted by the discovery of a...