Senior PTI Leader in Hot Waters Again after a Court Issues Perpetual Arrest Warrants

Usama AnjumLast Updated: Sep 28, 2023

The senior PTI leader Azam Khan Swati is in hot waters again. He posted a controversial post on social media platform X in October last year concerning the previous army chief and his allies. Once again, the Special Judge Central Shahrukh Arjumand of FIA’s special court in Islamabad issued perpetual arrest warrants on Wednesday for PTI leader Azam Khan Swati over his controversial posts on social media platform X (then known as Twitter) about senior military officers including the then-army chief in October last year. It is pertinent to mention here that Swati was arrested a couple of times last year.

Swati was taken into police custody on November 27, 2022, and remained in detention for more than a month. Afterward, he obtained a post-arrest bail from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and was released from an Islamabad sub-jail at the start of this year. In his bail application, he denied the allegations of creating objectionable posts.

There were three previous court sessions regarding this case held in April, May, and June, during which the PTI leader failed to appear. In the May court session, a non-bailable arrest warrant was released against him, and in the June session, he was officially declared an offender.

Notably, Swati was associated with the May 9 violence that took place during the law enforcement crackdown on the party, leading to his labeling as an offender alongside other party leaders. Swati’s initial arrest by the FIA in October was in connection with allegations of posting provocative content concerning the armed forces, and he was later granted bail.

Afterward, the PTI leader alleged that he was tortured in custody and asked for the removal of two military officials, one of whom he used obscene language against in his tweet on November 26.

On November 27, the FIA re-arrested Swati over a “highly obnoxious campaign of intimidating tweets […] against state institutions”. The arrest was initiated following the lodging of an FIR by the FIA, working on behalf of the state and lodged through Islamabad Cyber Crime Reporting Centre Technical Assistant Aneesur Rehman.

The complaint included multiple legal provisions, including Section 20 of Peca, as well as Sections 131 (abetting mutiny or attempting to incite a soldier to abandon duty), 500 (punishment for defamation), 501 (defamation and the publication of content considered defamatory), Section 505 (making statements that could incite public mischief), and 109 (abetment) of the PPC. After his arrest in November, the Pakistan Electronic Media and Regulatory Authority imposed a ban on any media coverage related to Swati.