A first information report (FIR) was registered on Monday against members of Pashtun Tahafuz Movement’s (PTM) central committee, including lawmaker Ali Wazir, in North Waziristan.
The FIR was registered against Wazir and 11 other individuals for allegedly “enticing people to revolt against the state and for protesting and chanting slogans against state and security forces”.
South Waziristan District Police Officer (DPO) Kifayatullah registered the FIR based on an intelligence report.
The case has been registered against Wazir, Riaz Khan, Qasim Khan and nine unidentified persons under sections 120-B (punishment of criminal conspiracy), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 189 (threat of injury of public servant), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 500 (punishment for defamation), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 16 (dissemination of rumours, etc.) of the Maintenance of Public Order. Last week, the army signalled taking legal action against the PTM leadership, stating that time was up for “those who are playing in others’ hands”. Speaking at a news conference in Rawalpindi, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Asif Ghafoor accused the PTM of getting funds from Afghanistan’s secret agency National Directorate of Security (NDS) and India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
