KARACHI: A judicial magistrate in Peshawar remanded Ali Wazir – a National Assembly member from South Waziristan – into the Sindh Police’s custody after he was presented before the court on Thursday.

The move came after Wazir was arrested earlier on Wednesday in connection with a case registered against him and several other PTM (Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement) leaders in Karachi after a recent public meeting.

It is mentioned in the FIR registered with the Sohrab Goth Police Station that they committed several offences, including delivering hate speeches, hatching a criminal conspiracy and passing derogatory remarks against state institutions.

Wazir was taken into custody after he attended a ceremony held at Shuhada APS Public Library in connection with the sixth anniversary of the APS Peshawar, which had left 147 people, mostly students, dead.

PTM chief Manzoor Pashteen, MNA Mohsin Dawar, Sana Ijaz and others are also nominated in the case registered after the December 7 rally held at Sohrab Goth. However, none of them were detained on Wednesday although many of them also attended the same event.

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has condemned the arrest of Pakhtun Tehfiz Movement PTM MNA Mohammad Ali Wazir.

In a statement, the PPP Chairman said that arrest of the elected member of the Assembly in this way was against the democratic traditions. He said that holding public meetings were no crime to arrest an elected representatives. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that cases registered against elected representatives and political leaders were baseless warning that such acts wont bring good results if the regime continued to muzzle the freedom of expression. —Agencies