Ali Wazir
Muhammad Ali Wazir (Pashto/Urdu: ) is a Pashtun nationalist politician who is a founding member of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM). He has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018. On 3 June 2018, he survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban in Wanna, South Waziristan, who opened fire on him killing three supporters of PTM and injured dozens others, including Ali Wazir's cousin Arif Wazir. On 16 December 2020, Ali Wazir was arrested on allegations of treason by the Sindh Police in Peshawar, where he was present to commemorate the 2014  Peshawar school massacre. Qamar Javed Bajwa, the Pakistan Army Chief, stated on 1 July 2021 that Wazir would have to apologize for criticizing the Pakistan Army and then he could be released, but Wazir refused to apologize. On 14 March 2022, the Pashtun National Jirga in Bannu demanded that Wazir be immediately released along with all other political prisoners. Personal life and family. Ali Wazir belongs to the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe of the Pashtuns. His father, Malik Mirzalam Wazir, was the chief of the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe. Ali Wazir received his early education in Wanna, South Waziristan. While studying law  at Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan, he was influenced by the International Marxist Tendency group and became a political activist.<ref name="Himalmag/15june2018"></ref> In 2003, Ali Wazir's elder brother Farooq Wazir, who was a tribal leader and activist critical of the Taliban's presence in Waziristan, was assassinated by the Taliban militants. It marked the start of a long campaign during which the Taliban killed thousands of local activists, politicians, and clerics in the Pashtun tribal areas who had opposed the Taliban. In June 2004, Ali Wazir's father, Malik Mirzalam, was picked up by the authorities under the collective  responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulations. In July 2005, while Ali Wazir was in prison under the same law, the Taliban killed his father, brother, two uncles, and two cousins in a single ambush near their home. When Ali Wazir was briefly released by the authorities, the funerals had already ended. Remembering the day in July 2005, Ali's mother, Khwazhamina, said: "Our whole front yard was red with the blood oozing from our martyrs. Our house was eerily silent and empty after their remains were taken to the graveyard for burial. Only the cries of our small children  echoed in the blank courtyard.” Her family said that she lived in a doorless room afterwards, because of her fear of being awaken to a tragic news by a knock at her door. In May 2020, Ali's first cousin Arif Wazir was assassinated. Between 2003 and 2020, 18 male members of Ali Wazir's extended family were killed by the militants. The militants also ruined the businesses owned by his family. Their gas stations were demolished, their tube wells were filled with dirt, and their apple and peach orchards were sprayed with poisonous chemicals. In 2016, their market in  Wanna was demolished with dynamite under the Frontier Crimes Regulations, which authorized collective punishment, after a bomb killed an army officer. Authorities subsequently prevented the locals of Wanna from collecting donations to help Ali Wazir's family. “They were told it would set an unacceptable precedent because the government cannot let anyone help those it punishes”, Wazir wrote in an opinion article for "The Diplomat". 2018 assassination attempt. On June 3, 2018, during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, gunmen affiliated with the Taliban attacked Ali Wazir and other supporters of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) in Wanna, South  Waziristan. Ali Wazir survived but three supporters of PTM were killed in the attack while dozens of others, including Ali Wazir's cousin Arif Wazir and local journalist Noor Ali Wazir, were injured. Many of the injured were taken to hospitals in Dera Ismail Khan. A local senior journalist, on condition of anonymity, told that his sources confirmed that the attack was carried out by the Nazir Group, a faction of Taliban militants which operated in South Waziristan. The dispute between the two parties in Wanna had started on June 2 when a pro-government militant leader, Ainullah Wazir, took  away Pashteen hats from PTM activists by force and set the hats on fire. To condemn the act of the militant leader, Ali Wazir announced that a protest sit-in was to be held by PTM in Wanna from June 4. In response, the militants with guns went to Wazir's home and asked him to either leave the area or leave PTM. When Wazir refused to comply with their demand, they attacked Wanna's Mirzalam Market and a nearby petrol pump owned by Ali Wazir. However, a large number of unarmed PTM supporters gathered at the market to support  Wazir and resisted the militants, after which the militants indiscriminately opened fire on the PTM supporters. The PTM leader Mohsin Dawar alleged that when the militants fled after the attack was repulsed, security forces which reached the area also opened fire on the unarmed PTM supporters, injuring many of them. Mohsin Dawar added: “Even though the military imposed a curfew in the area, but it has not discouraged the people from coming out and expressing their support for the PTM.” PTM leader Manzoor Pashteen also claimed that the attackers were backed by the Pakistan Army and intelligence agencies. Following a  protest call by Pashteen, PTM held protest rallies in several cities including Peshawar, Quetta, and Islamabad to condemn the attack on Ali Wazir. On June 4, Pakistan Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor claimed at a press conference that a firefight had taken place between PTM supporters and a government sponsored peace committee, members of which were reported to be former members of the Taliban. Political career. Ali Wazir ran for the seat of the National Assembly of Pakistan as an independent candidate from Constituency NA-41 (Tribal Area-VI) in 2008 Pakistani general election but was unsuccessful. He received 3,294  votes and lost the seat to Abdul Maalik Wazir. He ran for the seat of the National Assembly as an independent candidate from Constituency NA-41 (Tribal Area-VI) in 2013 Pakistani general election but was unsuccessful. He received 7,641 votes and lost the seat to Ghalib Khan. Reportedly, the Taliban intimidated and tortured his voters and supporters which resulted in his defeat by 300 votes. In 2018, he became one of the leaders of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) which emerged after the extrajudicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud. He was offered a nomination on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI ) ticket by Imran Khan to contest 2018 general election from his Constituency NA-50 (Tribal Area-XI), which he declined, following which Imran Khan decided not to field candidate against him in the constituency.<ref name="pakistantoday/27june2018"></ref><ref name="theprint/28july2018"></ref> He was elected to the National Assembly as an independent candidate from Constituency NA-50 (Tribal Area-XI) in the 2018 general election. He received 23,530 votes and defeated an independent candidate, Syed Tariq Gailani. Controversial speeches and detentions. Ali Wazir is known for his vocal criticism of the Taliban and Pakistan's security establishment.<ref name="newsweekpakistan/23july018"></ref> During his speech on 1 March 2020 at  the PTM gathering in Charsadda, he stated that the US claimed to have achieved its goals after its peace deal with the Taliban, but it "should explain who the actual backers of terrorists in the region" were. To eradicate terrorism, he urged the US to "target the terror factories in Pakistan's GHQ, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Lahore in the same way that the US [had] destroyed Afghanistan and the Pashtuns." He also opposed the barbed barrier along the Durand Line, and demanded that all historic routes on the Afghan-Pakistan border be ensured for trade and free movement of people . On 16 December 2020, he was arrested in Peshawar after he attended a ceremony at the Shuhada-e-Army Public School Public Library commemorating the 6th anniversary of the Peshawar school massacre, which had killed 149 people, including 132 schoolchildren. The arrest was made in connection with sedition charges registered against him and several other leaders of PTM in Karachi. On 30 November 2021, he was granted post-arrest bail by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. However, his release was stalled by an anti-terrorism court in Karachi (ATC-XII) which requested additional verification, before his arrest order in another  case. Human rights activists and PTM members Alamzaib Mahsud and Qazi Tahir also appeared before the anti-terrorism court in Karachi, who had been similarly arrested for allegedly defaming state institutions. On 14 March 2022, the Pashtun National Jirga in Bannu demanded that Ali Wazir be immediately released along with all other political prisoners.