Pakistani Senator arrested for tweeting against Army Chief Bajwa

Islamabad, October 13

A lawmaker of ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party was arrested here on Thursday for accusing Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa of legitimising corruption in the high echelon of the country.

Senator Azam Khan Swati was arrested following his scathing tweet targeting Chief of Army Staff Gen Bajwa.

“Mr Bajwa congratulations to you and few with you. Your plan is really working and all criminals are getting free at the cost of this country,” he tweeted after the acquittal of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz in an alleged money laundering case on Wednesday.

Swati went on to add, “With these thugs getting free you have legitimised corruption. How you predict now the future of this country?”.

Swati was booked when the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) registered the First Information Report at its Cyber Crime Reporting Centre in Islamabad.

The FIR read that Swati tweeted with “malafide intentions & 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”.

“This is a calculated attempt to create hatred in the minds of people and Army Personnel/s against COAS and Pakistan Army and also created distrust towards the Judicial System. In such intimidating Tweet/s, the accused Muhammad Azam Khan Swati has attempted to provoke the general public and Personnel/s of Armed Forces by trying to create a feeling of ill-will among pillars of the State,” according to the FIR.

Prime Minister Shehbaz and his son were absolved of any wrongdoing by a court in Lahore where they faced a case of about Rs 16 billion in money laundering.

Swati was produced before a sessions court in Islamabad where he spoke with the media outside saying that he was not arrested for breaking the law, violating the Constitution or fundamental rights but for “taking one name — of Bajwa — and that is the violation”.

The powerful Pakistan Army, which has ruled the coup-prone country for more than half of its 75-plus years of existence, has hitherto wielded considerable power in the matters of security and foreign policy.

Swati also accused FIA of torturing him saying that “a parliamentarian has been unclothed”. “I am telling the nation.”

Earlier, the senior Civil Judge Shabbir Bhatti remanded him for two days to the FIA to probe the allegations and asked the authorities to present Swati before the court on October 15.

PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry tweeted that reports of Swati’s torture were “disturbing”. “Torturing political prisoners has become a new normal in Pakistan,” he added.

Former human rights minister during PTI rule, Shireen Mazari, tweeted a video of Azam Swati alleging torture in custody.

“Brave man Senator Azam Swati as he tells of why he was arrested but also how he was subjected to torture while in custody,” she wrote. “Shameful.”