SHC issues notices on Ali Wazir’s plea against detention after Sukkur jail release

HYDERABAD: The Sindh High Court on Thursday issued notices to senior police officials on a petition filed by former MNA Ali Wazir, who challenged his detention after his release from Sukkur Central Prison.

A division bench comprising Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry and Justice Riazat Ali Sahar also issued notices to the additional advocate general and additional prosecutor general, and fixed April 22 for further proceedings.

According to the petition, filed through Advocate Imdad Hyder Solangi, Wazir challenged his detention in a sedition case registered at the B-Section police station in Latifabad. His counsel told the court that on March 16, the SHO of A-Section police station in Dadu had lodged an FIR under Sections 123-A and 124 of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Sections 6 and 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

The lawyer said that FIR had already been questioned before the Sukkur bench of the high court. He further submitted that another FIR, numbered 40/26, was then registered at the B-Section police station in Dadu under Sections 324, 353 and 109 of the PPC, along with other provisions.

The petition stated that Wazir had been held in Sukkur Central Prison in connection with cases registered at police stations in Rohri, Naushahro Feroze and Nawabshah. His counsel told the court that the Anti-Terrorism Court-I in Sukkur had acquitted him in one of those cases on Aug 23, 2025.

He added that another case was returned by the ATC in Naushahro Feroze on April 15, 2025, with the observation that the allegations described in the FIR did not amount to terrorism. According to the petition, the investigating officer was directed to submit a final report before the court of a civil judge, and the relevant court in Naushahro Feroze later cancelled the FIR.

The counsel also said that a final report in the Nawabshah case had been submitted before the Benazirabad ATC judge, who directed police to place the matter before the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency in Hyderabad.

He told the court that the SHC’s Hyderabad circuit bench had eventually ordered Wazir’s release on March 10 against a surety bond of Rs50,000, and that he was released from Sukkur prison on March 16.

According to the petition, Wazir was with relatives serving in law enforcement agencies on the same day when policemen arrived and took him and others into custody. His relatives then moved an application under Section 491 of the Criminal Procedure Code before the district and sessions judge in Sukkur and also approached the high court.

The counsel submitted that after a habeas corpus application was filed on March 18, Wazir was produced before the ATC in Naushahro Feroze on March 19 in connection with the FIR registered at A-Section police station, Dadu. He argued that Wazir had been falsely implicated, had faced continued harassment and that his liberty had been restricted.

Through the petition, Wazir asked the court to quash FIR No. 40/26 registered at B-Section police station, Dadu, and to restrain the investigating officer from submitting a charge sheet in that case.

The bench issued notices to the DIGs of Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur, the SSPs of Dadu and Sukkur, and other police officials for April 22.