MNA Mohsin Dawar taken into custody from North Waziristan
May 30, 2019
MNAs Ali Wazir (L) and Mohsin Dawar walk at the venue of a rally last year. Wazir was arrested on Sunday and Dawar was taken into custody on Thursday. — Reuters/File
MNA Mohsin Dawar has been taken into custody by law enforcement personnel from Miranshah in North Waziristan, reported on Thursday.
According to informed sources, Dawar surrendered himself to the law and will be produced before an anti-terrorism court in Bannu for physical remand.
The arrest follows the
Kharqamar clash on May 26, in which three people were killed and 15 others injured during an exchange of fire.
According to the Army's media wing, Dawar and MNA Ali Wazir — both leaders of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) — were leading the group that "assaulted Kharqamar check post, Boyya, North Waziristan tribal district". "They wanted to exert pressure for the release of suspected terrorists' facilitator arrested the other day," the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had said.
MNA Dawar and the PTM leadership, however, had denied that the group opened fire and accused the Army of initiating violence.
Following the clash, Ali Wazir and eight others were arrested and subsequently
remanded into Counter-Terrorism Department custody while Dawar, who had received minor injuries during the Kharqamar incident, was declared "at large".
An FIR was registered against the lawmakers and seven others; the charges have been framed under 7ATA (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).
The FIR said the protesters hurled stones at the army post and that armed supporters of Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar attacked the security post and opened fire.
According to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 2007, "When a member is arrested on a criminal charge or for a criminal offence or is sentenced to imprisonment by a court of law or is detained under an executive order, the committing judge, magistrate or executive authority, as the case may be, shall immediately intimate such fact to the Speaker indicating the reasons for the arrest, detention or conviction, as the case may be, as also the place of detention or imprisonment of the member in the appropriate form set out in the Fourth Schedule."
The speaker should then inform the members of parliament about the development, according to Rule 105.
It is not yet clear whether the Speaker had been informed of Wazir and Dawar's arrest. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan
has been asked to look into the matter by Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri.
Dawn.