PTI senator held again over tweets against army officers
A magistrate in Islamabad approves two-day physical remand of Swati and hands him over to the Federal Investigation Agency; PTI condemns senior leader’s arrest
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday arrested Pakistan Tehrik-e-insaf (PTI) Senator Azam Swati — the second time in less than two months — over strongly worded tweets against senior military officials.
He was previously arrested by the FIA in October for a controversial tweet against the armed forces.
Since he was released on bail, the senator has maintained that he was allegedly tortured in custody and has demanded the removal of two military officials, one of whom he used foul language against in his tweet on Friday.
A judicial magistrate in Islamabad approved two-day judicial remand of Swati and handed him over to the FIA.
The FIA produced Swati before the judicial magistrate around mid-day and sought his physical remand for eight days.
Duty Judge Waqas Ahmad Raja first reserved his ruling and later pronounced his verdict sending Swati into FIA custody on physical remand for two days.
A first information (FIR) report was registered by the FIA on the complaint of the State through Islamabad Cyber Crime Reporting Centre (CCRC) Technical Assistant Aneesur Rehman.
The complaint was registered under Section 20 of the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act 2016 (Peca) which deals with offences against dignity of a person as well as Sections 131 (abeting mutiny or atempting to seduce a soldier from his duty), 500 (punishment for defamation), 501 (defamation and printing of content deemed defamatory), Section 505 (statement conducing to public mischief) and 109 (abetment) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
According to the FIR, Swati and three other Twiter accounts “with malafide intentions and ulterior motives, started a highly obnoxious campaign of intimidating tweets against state institutions” and senior government functionaries, including outgoing army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
It said that on Nov.26, Swati shared a tweet wherein he stated that he would go ater a senior military official at every forum. It went on to say that on Nov.19, another account shared a tweet in which held generals responsible for the country’s destruction to which Swati replied with “thank you.”
This account on Nov.24 stated that change had to begin by clearing the filth of the “corrupt generals” from the institution, to which Swati again replied with “thank you.”
The complaint said that on Nov.24, @Haqeeqattv 20 tweeted about a word for those on their way out to which the senator responded with strong language.
The FIR said that such “intimidating tweets of blaming and naming” were a “mischievous act of subversion to create a rit between personnel of armed forces to harm the state of Pakistan.”
The FIR said that through the offensive tweets as well as the comments on instigating tweets, the accused atempted to seduce army personnel from their allegiance from their duties as subordinates,” adding that this was a “calculated and repeated atempt” by Swati.
The FIR noted that a similar complaint had been filed against the senator in the past, adding that Swati atempted to “provoke” the general public and personnel of armed forces by trying to create “a feeling of ill-will among the pillars of the state.”
Swati “violated the privacy by using false information” which was likely to incite any officer, soldier, sailor or airman to mutiny or otherwise disregard or fail in his duty, the FIR said, adding that the remarks were also likely to cause “fear or alarm” in the public.
Soon ater Swati was arrested, PTI leader Shireen Mazari posted a video of a statement he made just moments before was taken into custody.
Swati’s lawyer Babar Awan informed the court that the tweets are not in accordance with the sections mentioned in the FIR under which the former minister was arrested. He said the statement recorded by the police has no legal status as it was not recorded before a magistrate. Awan further said Swati was brutally tortured last time and he is still recuperating from it. Swati still carries the marks of physical and mental torture, Awan added. He told the court that Swati’s life is in danger.