Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Azam Swati was arrested on Thursday morning for tweeting ‘false information’ against state institutions, specifically the army chief, as per an FIR registered by the FIA.
After Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shahbaz were acquitted yesterday in the high profile money laundering case against them, Swati took to Twitter to express his outrage, during which he held the Chief of Army Staff Qamar Javed Bajwa responsible for the pair’s acquittal.
Tweeting after the event, he said, “Mr Bajwa congratulations to you and few with you. Your plan is really working and all criminals are getting free at cost of this country.” He accused the army chief of ‘legitimising corruption’, and asked what he predicted the future of the country would be now.
Mr Bajwa congratulations to you and few with you . Your plan is really working and all criminals are getting free at cost of this country . With these thugs getting free You have legitimise corruption . How you predict now the future of this country ? pic.twitter.com/uZgHQjZ7lJ
— Senator Azam Khan Swati (@AzamKhanSwatiPk) October 12, 2022
In a separate tweet, he said, “I wish Imran khan allow me I would come straight to Gate 4 in Rawalpindi to challenge those who have ruined this country.”
How long imported govt and its criminals and their Masters 5-6 in establishments are going to play with the future of our Nation ? Have your heard Atizaz ? I wish Imran khan allow me I would come straight to Gate 4 in Rawalpindi to challenge those who have ruined this country pic.twitter.com/Q7EVJkj94g
— Senator Azam Khan Swati (@AzamKhanSwatiPk) October 12, 2022
Appearing outside a sessions court in Islamabad today, he told reporters that he wasn’t arrested for violating the Constitution or for breaking any laws, but for “taking one name — of Bajwa — and that is the violation”.
He claimed to have been tortured by the agencies, and said that the FIA had arrested him.
The FIR registered by the FIA states that Swati “Tweeted with malafide intentions and ulterior motives against State Institutes of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan and its Senior Government Functionaries including Chief of The Army Staff of Pakistan Army”.
It also claims that “the intimidating tweet/s of blaming and naming through Twitter account i.e., @AzamKhanSwatiPK, is a mischievous act of subversion to create a rift between personnel/s of The Armed Forces and an attempt to harm the State of Pakistan”.
The FIA arrested Swati and produced him before a district and additional sessions court in Islamabad, requesting a seven-day physical remand of the PTI senator. The court allowed a two-day physical remand and sent Swati to the hospital for a medical check up.
