Ali Wazir: Face of Pakistan's non-violent movement in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Muhammed Ali Wazir, who heads the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) has become the icon of the non-violent movement in Pakistan and is identified as one who speaks for the people of the tribal areas and fights for their rights, reported International Forum for Right and Security (IFFRAS).
However, Wazir spends most of his time-fighting court battles because the deep state has filed a number of cases against him to try and minimize his popularity. While one court after another has acquitted Ali Wazir, legal proceedings against him keep coming, showing the malafide intent of the Pakistani state, reported IFFRAS.
PTM leader Wazir, first lost as an independent candidate from South Waziristan in the 2013 general election, was later elected in the National Assembly as a member of the lower house of the Parliament in the next general election in 2018.
Wazir was imprisoned four years ago on sedition charges in connection with a controversial speech he made at a Karachi rally. Several cases along the same lines have been filed against him, and continue to be filed, to ensure that liberty for Wazir remains out of reach.
He continues to be stifled politically by the Pakistani state which signals the weakness of Pakistan's polity, reported IFFRAS.
An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Karachi cleared him of the original charge in November 2022. However, he is still facing trial in three similar cases in Karachi, as well as one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and is yet to be released.
Wazir, who is diabetic, has faced considerable health problems while imprisoned and was reportedly hospitalized on 10 September 2022.
Wazir has been consistently targeted for his unequivocal criticism of the Pakistani Army and the human rights abuses that the Pashtun ethnic minority face in Waziristan and neighbouring border areas in the former Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), now a part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, reported IFFRAS.
An activist and Member of the National Assembly (MNA), Ali Wazir is a resident of Wana, South Waziristan, and was first imprisoned while he was still a student in 2005, under the colonial-era Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) law. While in prison, his father, his brothers, and an uncle were killed in an ambush.
Wazir is one of the main leaders of the PTM, which represents the accumulated grievances of Pakistani Pashtuns over the last four and a half decades of imperial and civil warfare in the former FATA region.
Its main demands are the recovery of more than a thousand 'missing' or 'disappeared' persons from the region and an end to the humiliating ethnic profiling of Pashtuns across the country. Pashtuns are often considered "Taliban sympathizers" by the security state and are persecuted for this reason.
The PTM has demanded justice and accountability for the economic devastation brought into the lives of Pashtun families, thousands of whom have been internally displaced by the state's military actions, reported IFFRAS.
Wazir has been consistently targeted by both state and non-state forces for his vocal criticism of the Pakistan army's involvement in the former FATA region. In recent years, Wazir has also faced continuous attacks on his life.
Despite the courts clearing him, the deep state is fearful of his popularity among the Pashtuns in the tribal areas of Pakistan. That is why it has chosen to black out all media coverage of the activities of the PTM.
Greater international support for the likes of Ali Wazir is the first step towards the full restoration of democracy in Pakistan, reported IFFRAS. (ANI)