Ali Wazir

Muhammad Ali Wazir (Pashto: محمد علي وزیر) is a Pakistani politician who is the co-founder of a human rights movement, Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM).

In 2003, his elder brother Farooq Wazir, who was an activist critical of the Taliban presence in Waziristan, was assassinated by the Taliban militants in front of his family's gas station in Wanna.

Farooq Wazir became one of the first Pashtun victims of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Pakistan.

It marked the start of a long campaign during which the Taliban and al-Qaeda killed thousands of local activists, politicians, and clerics who had opposed Talibanization and who had asked the authorities to ensure peace in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas near the Durand Line.

Between 2003 and 2020, a total of 18 male members of Ali Wazir's extended family were killed by militants.

The militants also ruined the businesses owned by his family.

Their gas stations were demolished, their tube wells were filled with dirt, and their apple and peach orchards were sprayed with poisonous chemicals.

In June 2004, Ali's father was picked up by authorities under the collective punishment clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation.

In July 2005, while Ali was in jail under the same law, the Taliban killed his father, his brother Tariq, his uncle Saadullah Jan (father of Arif Wazir), his cousin Ibrahim (brother of Arif Wazir), and another uncle Feroz Khan in a single ambush near their home in Wanna.

When Ali was briefly released by the authorities, the funerals had already ended.

The Pakistani government did not investigate the killings and made no arrests.

Remembering that 2005 day, Ali's mother, Khwazhamina, said: "Our whole front yard was red with the blood oozing from our martyrs. Our house was eerily silent and empty after their remains were taken to the graveyard for burial. Only the cries of our small children echoed in the blank courtyard."

Her family said that she lived in a doorless room afterwards, because of her fear of being awaken to a tragic news by a knock at her door again.

Referring to her struggle later, Ali's mother said, "when I moved to Dera Ismail Khan in 2005, after my sons and husband were murdered, I brought 15 orphans with me. The government gave me some money to compensate for the deaths, and with that money, I built this house. I raised my family."

Over the years, "the men killed in our family left behind seven widows. I always tell the widows not to weep so our enemies won't elate in their success."

Wazir ran for the seat of the National Assembly of Pakistan as an independent candidate from Constituency NA-41 (Tribal Area-VI) in the 2008 Pakistani general election but was unsuccessful.

He received 3,294 votes and lost the seat to independent candidate Abdul Maalik Wazir.

In the 2013 Pakistani general election, he again ran for the seat of the National Assembly as an independent candidate from Constituency NA-41 (Tribal Area-VI) but was unsuccessful.

He received 7,641 votes, and narrowly lost the seat to Ghalib Khan, a candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League (N).

In 2016, the government demolished their market in Wanna with dynamite under the Frontier Crimes Regulation, which authorized collective punishment, after a bomb killed an army officer.

In his opinion article for The Diplomat, Wazir discussed the incident: "While local officials admitted to me that it was an accident and we were not to blame, they nevertheless destroyed our livelihoods under the Frontier Crimes Regulation."

Authorities also prevented the locals of Wanna from collecting donations to help his family.

"They were told it would set an unacceptable precedent because the government cannot let anyone help those it punishes," wrote Wazir.

He had been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from August 2018 till August 2023.

During his student life, he was active in the Pashtun Students Federation (PSF), an allied wing of the Awami National Party (ANP).

Wazir's family was long active in the Pashtun nationalist movement and opposed to the Talibanization of the former tribal areas, earning them the militants' enmity.

His father (Malik Mirzalam), two brothers (Farooq and Tariq), two uncles (Saadullah Jan and Feroz Khan), and three cousins (Ibrahim, Ishaq and Arif Wazir) were all murdered in targeted killings.

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).

On 16 December 2020, Wazir was arrested on allegations of treason in Peshawar, where he was present to commemorate the 2014 Peshawar school massacre.

He was handed over to the Sindh Police and shifted to Karachi.

Qamar Javed Bajwa, the Pakistan Army Chief, stated on 1 July 2021 that Wazir would have to apologize for criticizing the Pakistan Army and then he could be released, but Wazir refused to apologize.

On 14 March 2022, the Pashtun National Jirga in Bannu demanded that Wazir be immediately released along with all other political prisoners.

After more than two years in jail, Wazir was released on 14 February 2023.

Ali belongs to the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe of the Pashtuns.

His father, Malik Mirzalam Wazir, was the chief of the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe.

Ali received his early education in Wanna, South Waziristan.

While studying law at the Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan, he was influenced by the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) group and became a political activist.

On 1 May 2020, Ali's first cousin Arif Wazir, who had been released from jail just four days earlier, was critically injured when gunmen shot him in Wanna.

The attack came just a few minutes before sunset during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, as he was driving home to have a fast-breaking meal with his family.

He died from his injuries on 2 May.