1. Muhammad Ali Wazir is a Pakistani politician who is the co-founder of a human rights movement, Pashtun Tahafuz Movement.
28 Facts About Ali Wazir
1. 2.
Ali Wazir had been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from August 2018 till August 2023.
3.
On 3 June 2018, Ali Wazir himself survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban in Wanna, South Waziristan, who opened fire on him, killing four supporters of PTM and injuring dozens others, including Arif Wazir.
4.
On 16 December 2020, Wazir was arrested on allegations of treason in Peshawar, where he was present to commemorate the 2014 Peshawar school massacre.
5.
Ali Wazir was handed over to the Sindh Police and shifted to Karachi.
6.
Qamar Javed Bajwa, the Pakistan Army Chief, stated on 1 July 2021 that Ali Wazir would have to apologize for criticizing the Pakistan Army and then he could be released, but Ali Wazir refused to apologize.
7.
On 14 March 2022, the Pashtun National Jirga in Bannu demanded that Ali Wazir be immediately released along with all other political prisoners.
8.
Muhammad Ali Wazir was born on October 21,1976 in Ghawa Khwa, a village in the Wanna Tehsil of the South Waziristan district of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas into the Ahmadzai clan of the Wazir tribe of the Pashtuns.
9.
Farooq Wazir became one of the first Pashtun victims of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Pakistan.
10.
In June 2004, Ali Wazir's father was picked up by the authorities under the collective punishment clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation.
11.
In July 2005, while Ali was in jail under the same law, the Taliban killed his father, his brother Tariq, his uncle Saadullah Jan, his cousin Ibrahim, and another uncle Feroz Khan in a single ambush near their home in Wanna.
12.
Ali Wazir died from his injuries on 2 May Between 2003 and 2020, a total of 18 male members of Ali Wazir's extended family were killed by militants.
13.
Ali Wazir ran for the seat of the National Assembly of Pakistan as an independent candidate from Constituency NA-41 in the 2008 Pakistani general election but was unsuccessful.
14.
Ali Wazir received 3,294 votes and lost the seat to independent candidate Abdul Maalik Wazir.
15.
Ali Wazir received 7,641 votes, and narrowly lost the seat to Ghalib Khan, a candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League.
16.
Ali Wazir was offered a nomination on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ticket by Imran Khan to contest the 2018 general election from his Constituency NA-50, which he declined.
17.
Ali Wazir was elected to the National Assembly as an independent candidate from Constituency NA-50 in the 2018 general election.
18.
Ali Wazir received 23,530 votes, and defeated independent candidate Syed Tariq Gailani.
19.
Ali Wazir is known for his vocal criticism of Pakistan's military establishment.
20.
Ali Wazir blames the Pakistan Armed Forces for human rights violations during its large-scale military operations, including Operation Rah-e-Nijat in South Waziristan in 2009, during which time he was forced to stay in Dera Ismail Khan due to the insecurity in Waziristan.
21.
On 16 December 2020, Ali Wazir 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.
22.
Ali Wazir, who is diabetic, complained of inadequate medical facilities at his jail.
23.
Ali Wazir was admitted to hospital at least twice while in detention.
24.
On 14 March 2022, the Pashtun National Jirga in Bannu demanded that Ali Wazir be immediately released along with all other political prisoners.
25.
Ali Wazir protested outside the hospital, demanding that he be shifted to Islamabad for the National Assembly's budget session, and that otherwise, he be sent back to jail because he felt his life was in danger at the hospital.
26.
On 14 February 2023, Ali Wazir was released after spending more than two years in jail.
27.
Ali Wazir survived but four supporters of PTM were killed in the attack while dozens of others, including Ali's cousin Arif Wazir and a local journalist Noor Ali Wazir, were injured.
28.
However, a large number of unarmed PTM supporters gathered at the market to support Ali Wazir and resisted the militants, after which the militants indiscriminately opened fire on the PTM supporters.