KARACHI: Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) chief Manzoor Pashteen along with two sitting lawmakers from Waziristan and a number of local leaders have been charge-sheeted by the police for allegedly committing sedition and using provocative language against state institutions during a rally in Karachi.

Police arrested MNA Ali Wazir, Noorullah Tareen, Sher Ayub Khan, Ahsanullah, Basirullah and Mohammad Sher Khan and booked them for allegedly using defamatory, provocative and undesirable language against state institutions and the army during a rally in Sohrab Goth on Dec 9.

PTM chief Pashteen, lawmaker Mohsin Dawar along with five other local leaders have also been booked in the case registered at the Sohrab Goth police station.

Police had arrested PTM lawmaker Ali Wazir in Peshawar in connection with the case on a request of the Sindh police. He was later flown to Karachi to face trial.

On Thursday, the investigating officer filed a report stating that in the light of the probe, interrogation of six detained suspects, statements of the witnesses and video footage of the rally a case was made out against them under Sections 120 (punishment of criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging or attempting to wage war or abetting waging of war against Pakistan), 121-A (conspiracy to commit offences punishable under Section 121), 124-A (sedition), 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups, etc), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

The IO further stated that six suspects who had not been arrested, including Manzoor Pashteen, MNA Mohsin Dawar, Mohammad Tahir, alias Qazi, Hidayatullah Pashteen, Javed Raheem, Mohammad Shafi were charge-sheeted for committing the same offences.

The IO mentioned names of 10 other suspects in column-II in red ink, indicating that while sufficient evidence was available against them, their addresses were not known.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2021