ISLAMABAD: A local court Thursday granted the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) two-day physical remand of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senator Azam Khan Swati in a case registered against him over his alleged controversial tweet.
The Cyber Crime Wing of the FIA arrested Swati from his home in the wee hours of Thursday and produced him before senior civil judge Shabbir Bhatti for obtaining his physical remand. The FIA’s Cyber Crime Wing registered a case against him late Wednesday night over the “controversial” tweets under Section 20 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, read with 131 (abetting mutiny or attempting to seduce a soldier from his duty), 500 (punishment for defamation), 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), and 109 (punishment of abetment) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
According to the application filed by the FIA for obtaining physical remand of Swati, the case has been registered against the accused persons for their involvement in sharing different unethical content/tweets on social media/Twitter, in which the alleged profile has knowingly uttered fabricated facts and levelled false allegations on the role played by state institutions and senior government functionaries.
It says that the false and frivolous allegations were made by him with the intention to create a sense of mistrust among the public in the state institutions, which is a clear mischievous act of subversion on his part. The anti-army and anti-state sentiments are further fuelled by such remarks.
During the investigation, the accused person mentioned above has been arrested on October 13 in the subject case and the alleged Twitter handle i.e. @AzamKhanSawatiK (marked verified by Twitter) along with other social media accounts of the accused is yet to be recovered and technically analysed in the presence of the accused. The agency requested the court to grant eight days of physical remand of the accused person to conduct a further investigation of him.
Lawyer Babar Awan, Sardar Masroof Khan, and Qaiser Jadoon appeared on Swati’s behalf.
Awan, while arguing before the court, said that Swati was arrested on political grounds. He also alleged that he was tortured during custody. The court after hearing arguments granted two days of remand and ordered to conduct medical check-up of the accused before and after the remand. The court directed the agency to produce him before it on October 15.
Talking to reporters outside the court, Swati said that he was not arrested for breaking the law, violating the constitution or fundamental rights. He said he was arrested for “taking one name and that is the violation”. To a question, he said that he was arrested by the FIA and said that he was tortured by the agencies after his arrest. “A parliamentarian has been undressed,” he said.
The FIR registered by the FIA against Swati says that consequent upon the conclusion of enquiry No RE-818/2022 Cyber Crime Reporting Centre, Islamabad, it transpired that Muhammad Azam Khan Swati with mala fide intentions and ulterior motives, tweeted/uploaded/publicly projected, highly obnoxious and intimidating message through Twitter account having handle: @Azam KhanSwatiPK, Display Name: “Senator Azam Khan Swati” and URL: https://twitter. com/Azam KhanSwatiPk, against the state institutes of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan and its senior government Functionaries including Chief of The Army Staff of Pakistan Army (COAS).
It says that the accused Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, through his personal Twitter Account, shared a Tweet on October 12, 2022 at 19:00 PM, https://twitter.com/AzamKhanSwatiPk/status/1580196735288107010, by stating therein that “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?”. Such 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.
Through the aforementioned Tweet, the accused undermined the judicial system of the country and also attempted to seduce Army Personnel/s from their allegiance to their duties as subordinates. This is a calculated attempt to create hatred in the mind of people and Army personnel 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.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022