QUETTA: On Friday, the Balochistan High Court (BHC) ruled that FIRs filed against Azam Swati for his contentious tweets criticising top military leadership should be dropped.
The senator’s son petitioned the BHC to stop the cases from being registered in Balochistan, and the BHC thereafter made this decision.
The prominent lawmaker was detained from Islamabad by the Balochistan police last week as a result of five FIRs being filed against him in the province’s Kuchlak, Hub, Zhob, and two other regions. They had Swati in their custody after a Quetta court granted the police department’s request for a physical remand.
The senator was being held at the time of his arrest on judicial remand at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail after being detained twice in connection with a contentious tweet on November 27. The police then sent him to Quetta on a transit remand.
The senator then went to the BHC, which ruled that no new charges should be filed against him.
During the last hearing, the court also ordered a detailed summary of the cases brought against the ill Swati from the police chief.
After the hearing, Swati’s attorney spoke with the media and stated that the court had given his client respite provided she wasn’t named in another case.
Shah said that the investigating officials had indicated the inspector general of the Balochistan police not being aware of the FIRs. “The government’s counsel was unable to show the basis for bringing complaints against Azam Swati,” Shah said.
According to sources speaking to Geo News, the Sindh police arrested Senator Azam Swati, a senior member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and put him into jail.
Iqbal Shah, the politician’s attorney, informed the sources that despite the Balochistan High Court’s decision for the elderly man’s release, the provincial police had turned him over to the Sindh police.
Shah informed the sources that Senator Swati is now being transported by special aircraft to the southernmost area of the nation.
The PTI leader Qasim Khan Suri also acknowledged the development and criticised the Sindh government’s “regretful” response to the BHC’s decision in the senator’s favour.
The former National Assembly speaker sent a message on his official Twitter account that included a request from Swati’s daughter that questioned the legal system of the nation.
In a tweet asking the UN to step in, he stated, “75-year-old Pakistani Senator @AzamKhanSwatiPk’s daughter @humanityhopeor1 [Farah Swati] has posted her statement on the continuing of harassment & victimisation of her father.”
Asad Umar, the secretary general of PTI, also condemned the senator’s detention.
He tweeted that Azam Swati had been “released from Balochistan and detained by Sindh on the same charge,” describing the incident as a “funeral of law.”