PESHAWAR:
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) internal accountability committee has exonerated Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati from allegations of illegal recruitments in the provincial legislature.
According to a report issued by committee member and prominent legal expert Qazi Anwar Advocate on Sunday, the accusations were levelled by former senator Azam Swati. However, he neither substantiated the claims nor presented any evidence before the committee.
“This Azam Swati is not the same as the one who was previously jailed; he is a different person,” the report noted.
The report further stated that the appointments in question were either made before Babar Swati’s tenure as speaker or were conducted in accordance with rules and regulations.
It alleged that Babar Saleem Swati was being punished for his loyalty to PTI founding chairman Imran Khan.
“Breaking from tradition, Babar Swati had delivered a speech in the K-P Assembly in November last year condemning the violence against PTI workers at D-Chowk in Islamabad,” said Qazi Anwar.
Following his speech, several lawmakers from both the government and opposition benches spoke on the issue, he added.
Qazi Anwar said that Swati had also initiated a debate and successfully passed a resolution in the Assembly regarding the Katlang incident. “He is being targeted solely for these reasons,” the report concluded.
“Swati’s only fault is his unwavering loyalty to the founding chairman of PTI and his spouse,” said the report, maintaining that the speaker was being victimised for this allegiance.
On the other hand, serious cracks have appeared within PTI’s internal accountability committee.
In the wake of Qazi Anwar’s report, committee members Irshad Farman and Musaddiq Abbasi voiced strong reservations, according to sources familiar with the development.
Sources said the report did not carry the committee’s collective stamp of approval, and its publication has drawn sharp objections from within. “There’s a clear split among the three committee members regarding the report’s contents,” one source revealed. “It wasn’t issued by the committee as a whole, but rather by one member acting solo.”
According to insiders, such internal reports are typically for the party’s eyes only and meant to be submitted directly to the party’s founding chairman, Imran Khan.
A committee member alleged that the report was intended solely for the PTI founder, but was let out of the bag before it reached him.
#Speaker #absolved #hiring #charges
Leave a Reply