Lawmaker held for clashing with soldiers in N.Waziristan

Tariq Butt / Agencies

A Member of the National Assembly belonging to Pushtoon Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) Mohsin Dawar was arrested by law enforcement personnel in North Waziristan on Thursday.

The arrest comes days after the Kharqamar checkpost incident, in which three people were killed and 15 others injured.

The charges in the FIR against Dawar and others were framed under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, Pakistan Penal Code 302 (murder), 324 (attempt to murder), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 120b (criminal conspiracy), and 109 (abetment to an offence).

Dawar and his party and parliamentary colleague Ali Wazir were among those leading the group, the Inter-Services Public Relations (IPSR) said. “They wanted to exert pressure for the release of suspected terrorists’ facilitator arrested the other day.”

Dawar, who had received minor injuries during the Kharqamar incident, had, according to the ISPR, fled the scene, while Ali Wazir and eight others were arrested and subsequently remanded into Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) custody.

Videos circulated on social media appear to show protesters arguing with soldiers and breaching a barbed-wire barricade placed on a road, before gunfire sends activists running for cover.

The violence is the most serious incident in a long-running confrontation between the authorities and the PTM, which has vowed to remain non-violent. Human rights groups have called for an inquiry into the incident.

The military has accused the PTM of being funded by foreign intelligence agencies — a veiled reference to arch-foe India and its Afghan allies — to stoke unrest in Pakistan’s Pashtun lands after the Pakistani army defeated militants there.

The PTM denies foreign links and says it is a grassroots movement.

Police and security sources in the region confirmed that Dawar has been detained, presented in front of a counter-terrorism court and was being questioned.

Both parliamentarians are prominent in the PTM and have been fierce critics of the military over alleged human rights abuses.

Meanwhile, a retired lieutenant general was awarded life imprisonment, and a retired brigadier of the Pakistan army and a civilian were imposed death penalty on the charges of espionage and leakage of sensitive information to foreign agencies prejudice to the national security, the Inter-Services Public Relations said on Thursday.

It said Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa endorsed punishment and added that the officers were tried under Pakistan Army Act (PAA) and Official Secret Act by separate Field General Court Marshal (FGCM) for separate cases.

Retired Lieutenant General Javed Iqbal was awarded 14 years rigorous imprisonment; retired Brigadier Raja Rizwan and Doctor Wasim Akram, employed at a sensitive organisation, were given death sentence.

The ISPR also released a video statement of its director general Major General Asif Ghafoor confirming these sentences.

The army did not release any further details of the crime committed by those convicted. It was not revealed that for which country these people committed espionage and leaked sensitive information.

This is perhaps the first time that a retired lieutenant general has been imposed such a heavy punishment. Some 400 officers of different ranks have been given various punishments, including dismissal from service, during the last two years.

Earlier, a law concerning the maintenance of public order was imposed in South Waziristan tribal district in the wake of public safety and in order to maintain the law and order situation in the area.

An order imposing Section 144, issued by Nauman Afzal Afridi, the deputy commissioner of South Waziristan tribal district, has come into effect immediately for a month.

The order stated that reports were received that “certain elements are resorting to objectionable, prejudicial, hate speeches against the state institutions in public gatherings, assemblies and processions which are likely to disturb the public peace and law and order situation” of the area.

“In my opinion there are sufficient grounds to proceed under Section 144 Criminal Procedure of Code to prevent all such gatherings, processions and rallies prejudicial to public peace and tranquility,” the order added.