ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to the Member National Assembly (MNA) and leader of Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) Ali Wazir in a case pertaining to a hate speech against the state institutions.

While granting the bail, the court noted that other accused in the hate speech case were granted bail, which was not challenged, therefore, Ali Wazir could not be denied the bail. A three-member bench comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail heard the appeal of Ali Wazir against the Sindh High Court (SHC) verdict. The court directed the MNA to furnish surety bond of Rs400,000. Earlier, the SHC had dismissed his bail application this year.

According to Latif Afridi, counsel for Ali Wazir, Mr Wazir might not be released immediately after this bail grant as there were some other cases pending against him, in which bail had to be granted. Ali Wazir was arrested on the charges of delivering hate speeches against the state institutions at a PTM protest rally in Karachi on December 6, 2020. On December 7, 2020, a case was registered against him at Sohrab Goth police station of Karachi.