The federal government moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday to have Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Azam Swati’s bail cancelled after he was released following his arrest for ‘controversial tweets’ against state institutions. In a petition filed through the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) Technical Officer Anis-ur-Rehman, the incumbent government maintained that Special Judge Central Raja Asif went beyond his jurisdiction by granting Swati bail. According to the petition, the judge gave the verdict on all sections of the case, and not only to the extent of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (PECA 2016), which was within his authority. The government requested that the order of the special judge be declared “illegal” and Swati’s bail order be withdrawn. Earlier, a district and sessions court in Islamabad had granted Swati post-arrest bail against a surety bond worth Rs1 million.A day earlier, Swati detailed the “torture” he was allegedly subjected to in the custody of the FIA and called on Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial to investigate the incident.
Addressing Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa in his presser, Swati said that “the COAS has 27 days left at the army general headquarters (GHQ)”, urging him to “follow the Constitution and summon FIA Cybercrime Assistant Director Ayaz Khan”. He stated that Ayaz would name the people involved within “five minutes”.
The senator alleged that the FIA official was present on the occasion and driving the vehicle during his torture. He asked that the phones of all individuals present be checked for video evidence of his torture, and to see who was “laughing” during the ordeal. “They covered my head and kept hitting me throughout, while someone recorded everything as I screamed,” he added.
