ISLAMABAD: A special court on Tuesday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Azam Swati in a case registered against him over his alleged controversial tweet.

Special judge Central Azam Khan while announcing their reserved verdict issued a non-bailable arrest warrant of Swati due to his continuous absence at hearings, and rejected his plea seeking to exempt him from personal appearance before the court.

During the hearing, prosecutor Rizwan Abbasi told the court the bailable arrest warrants issued during the previous hearing by the court had been executed. However, Swati was not present at his residence at the time.

He requested the court to issue a non-bailable arrest warrant of Swati.

Swati’s lawyer objecting to the prosecutor’s request said that he was not in contact with his client and he had no information of the IO’s visit to Swati’s residence.

The court took a short break and summoned the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officer who had delivered the arrest warrant of Swati to his residence.

After the resumption of the hearing, the concerned FIA officer who executed the arrest warrant told the court that nobody opened the door when the team visited Swati’s house. When the prosecutor insisted on the issuance of a non-bailable arrest warrant, Swati’s lawyer told the court that the law for non-bailable arrest warrants is very different.

“The law is not a joke,” responded the special prosecutor. Swati’s lawyer argued before the court that the arrest warrants had not been properly executed. To this, the prosecutor told the court the accused did not appear before the court intentionally.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023