Islamabad, the 24^th June, 2022: The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) has serious concerns over the humiliating treatment of Member National Assembly, Ali Wazir who has been languishing in jail since 2020 on charges of hate speech and sedition.

Ali Wazir represents South Waziristan’s constituency of 150,000 voters. Since his incarceration, his constituents /voters have lost their voice and representation in parliament. This violates the basic tenets of democracy.  Despite issuance of Ali Wazir’s production orders, he has not been taken to Islamabad to attend the National Assembly’s very all-important budget session. Speaker National Assembly must take note of this egregious violation of rights of Ali Wazir and his constituents.

Further, NCHR condemns the treatment meted out to Ali Wazir at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Karachi. Photographs circulating on social media are disturbing and violate the dignity of both a citizen and public representative of Pakistan.

NCHR hopes that the Federal Government and Government of Sindh will look into the matter with urgency and ensure that Ali Wazir is able to travel to Islamabad to fulfil his Constitutional obligations as member of parliament.