Pronouncing a reserved verdict, a District and Sessions Court in Islamabad on Sunday granted to the police one-day physical remand of Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) leader and ex-MNA Ali Wazir and Advocate Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir, daughter of former PTI stalwart Shireen Mazari, in the case of holding a public gathering without permission and interfering in official duty, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The court ordered the police to produce both suspects in the court tomorrow.
Earlier during the hearing, the police requested the court for the physical remand of both Wazir and Imaan.
Opposing the police’s request, Imaan’s lawyer Zainab Mazari said that the sections inserted in the case registered against her client were all related to bailable offences. “Where in the world people are arrested in such a manner,” she wondered, and added, “Imaan is not only a citizen of the state but also a lawyer.”
Police, on the other hand, said they had search warrants and that they did not storm the house but first rang the bell and when Iman came out, arrested her.
Imaan’s lawyers, on the other hand, became emotional while praying to the court to order the release of their client.
Speaking on the occasion, Prosecutor Adnan Ali said that Iman and others made speeches against the state institutions.
Adnan then read out before the court contents of the FIR.
Both Iman and her mother Shireen Mazari met in the courtroom and embraced each other.
When the judge asked the prosecutor how the physical remand of a woman could be granted to the police, the latter replied that a procedure had been laid down for that.
Earlier, Islamabad police arrested human rights lawyer and daughter of former federal minister Shireen Mazari, Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir, and former Member of National Assembly Ali Wazir “for investigation”.
The Islamabad police in their post on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) wrote: “Islamabad Capital Police has arrested Ali Wazir and Iman Mazari. Both the accused were wanted by the Islamabad Police for investigation. All action will be taken in accordance with law.
“The news issued by the Public Relations Department of Islamabad Capital Police should be accepted as correct. No one is authorized to give a statement from a police station.”
https://twitter.com/ICT_Police/status/1693129617345745241
Lawyer Imaan Mazari was earlier arrested from her house in Islamabad.
Imaan Mazari was arrested in a case registered against her at Tarnol police station under provisions 506-B, 186, 440, 148, and 149, police sources said.
It is to be noted here that Imaan Mazari delivered a speech at a rally of Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) in Islamabad the other day.
PTM leader Manzoor Pashteen was also nominated in the case registered at Tarnol police station.
In a tweet posted on the X platform in the wee hours of Sunday, Imaan wrote: “Unknown persons breaking down my home cameras banging gate jumped over.”
https://twitter.com/ImaanZHazir/status/1693025089518784718
Almost an hour later, Imaan’s mother Shireen Mazari tweeted that policewomen and other people in plain clothes had broken into her house in Islamabad and taken away her daughter Imaan Mazari.
She said that the policewomen and people in plain clothes had also taken away the security cameras and her laptop and cell phone.
“We asked who they had come for, but they just dragged Imaan out,” she added.
“They marched all over the house. My daughter was in her night clothes. She asked them to let her change, but they just dragged her away,” she stated.
While commenting on the arrest of her daughter, Shireen Mazari said that there were no warrants or a legal procedure.
She termed the arrest an abduction and state fascism. “Remember, we are only two women living in the house. Thus, it is an abduction.”
https://twitter.com/ShireenMazari1/status/1693037820053774833
After Imaan, the Federal Police also arrested former MNA and Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) leader Ali Wazir.
Former MNA Ali Wazir was arrested by a team of the Tarnol police station.
He was arrested on the charges of resisting police, staging a sit-in, and interfering with the government.
On June 19, security forces arrested PTM leader Ali Wazir at Dumdel check post in North Waziristan while he was travelling to Razmak from Miranshah. The FIA Cybercrime Circle Peshawar had started an inquiry against Wazir and PTM chief Manzoor Pashteen for allegedly using defamatory language and spreading propaganda against the institutions.
Lawyer Imaan Mazari-Hazir and politician Ali Wazir on Friday appeared at the first protest in months to be staged by the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), which fights for the rights of ethnic Pashtuns.
A PTM spokesman told AFP that dozens more members have also been detained since the protest.
Up to 3,000 people attended the protest in Islamabad, where both Mazari-Hazir and Wazir gave speeches condemning harassment against Pashtuns and called for missing people to be returned.
"You are being stopped as if you are the terrorists, while the (Pakistan) Taliban have taken over your homes again," Mazari-Hazir told the crowds in a video posted on social media.
Wazir is a PTM founding member who has long been an outspoken critic of the establishment and ithe military operations in the former tribal areas that border Afghanistan.
He was part of the outgoing government, representing the PTM, which dissolved earlier this month and has been arrested many times.
Both appeared at court in Islamabad on Sunday.
"It's unacceptable and points to a larger, more worrying pattern of state-sanctioned violence against people exercising their right to freedom of expression and assembly," the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in a statement.
Amnesty International called on the government to release Mazari-Hazir.
"If Imaan has been detained for her participation at this jalsa, she must be immediately and unconditionally released as this would be a violation of her rights to freedom of assembly, association and expression," the rights group said.
Yesterday, former foreign minister and Vice Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Shah Mahmood Qureshi was also arrested in Islamabad as part of the ongoing investigation into the cipher inquiry case by the Federal Investigation Agency.
Reporter Farzana Siddique and input from agencies