ISLAMABAD: Senators mainly from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and other political parties took out a large rally here on Friday in an expression of solidarity with PTI Senator Azam Khan Swati.
Deputy Chairman Senate Mirza Muhammad Afridi, Leader of the Opposition in Senate Dr Shahzad Waseem, Seemee Ezdi, Gurdeep Singh, Fida Muhammad Khan, Humayun Mohmand, and others led the rally from the Parliament House to the Supreme Court — to stress upon the apex court to take into stock the “tyranny meted out at Swati” and take action accordingly.
The protesting senators also staged a token sit-in outside the country’s top court.
Speaking on the occasion, the opposition leader said that the state could not function unless the state institutions functioned as per their role laid down in the Constitution.
“Azam Swati is a veteran politician and a senior member of this august house (Senate). The way he was subjected to extreme humiliation, so severely tortured—physically and mentally—the way his house was raided, the sanctity of his home was violated and he was picked —is beyond evil—words are not enough to condemn this evil highhandedness of those who did that,” he deplored.
The opposition leader handed an outright rejection to the committee formed by Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani on Swati’s issue.
“Let’s not play this committee game—this will not solve the problem at all—concrete action is needed - cosmetic actions will not help,” he said, addressing hundreds of people present on the protest site.
In a hard-hitting presser on November 5, Swati alleged that his wife was sent an objectionable video from an unknown number on the night of November 4 that featured her with her husband.
According to the PTI senator, the video was recorded during his visit to a judicial residential facility in Quetta in August this year. His particular visit and stay in Quetta was facilitated by the Senate chief, Swati has alleged.
Swati’s revelation sent shockwaves across Pakistan’s political spectrum with many politicians, regardless of their political affiliations openly siding with the PTI senator to express solidarity.
Before that, Swati was arrested by the Cybercrime Wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) last month for his “defamatory” tweet about Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
Swati was later released on bail by a district and sessions court. After his release, the PTI leader alleged that he was subjected to extreme humiliation during his detention including having been stripped naked and severely tortured by the officials of a premier intelligence agency at the behest of two senior military men. The PTI senator as well as Chairman PTI Imran Khan had repeatedly named these two officials in their pressers and public addresses, demanding action against them.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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