The arrest of former federal minister Senator Azam Swati in Islamabad was for blaming COAS Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa for the recent acquittal of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza in a money-laundering case, but it occurred the same day as his leader, PTI chief Imran Khan, called out General Bajwa’s institution, the Army, for the terrorism afflicting Senator Swati’s ancestral region of Swat. Mr Khan was clearly being disingenuous in blaming the military for the resurgence of religious militancy in the region after the takeover of Kabul by the Taliban, for while the Taliban have allegedly been backed by the intelligence agencies that the PTI now blames for removing Mr Khan’s government, KP has been under PTI rule since 2013, quite apart from Mr Khan’s quiet support of the Taliban, which won him the sobriquet ‘Taliban Khan’ from his critics. If there has been any decline in the law and order situation in KP, the blame falls squarely on the PTI.
Senator Swati’s blaming of the acquittal of the PM and his son on the COAS may have seemed to him to bring together two strands of the PTI narrative: that the PTI was ousted to stop its anti-corruption crusade; and that the COAS had played a role. It added an echo from PML(N) Quaid Nawaz Sharif’s naming General Bajwa for Mr Khan’s depredations. This did not prevent the powers-that-be from registering an FIR for inciting mutiny as well as criminal defamation.Senator Swati might well have profited from the example of Dr Shahbaz Gill, who was arrested for inciting mutiny, because of a statement he made on TV. Dr Gill remained under arrest, but was ultimately bailed out. However, Dr Gill had to spend August 9 and September 22 in jail for his August 8 broadcast.
Whatever the personal consequences for Senator Swati, it does illustrate the lack of tolerance of the institutions for criticism, and the swiftness of the response. This might illustrate the growing unease within the government as the PTI’s as-yet-unannouned Long March approaches, even though Senator Swati was not expected to bring a vast crowd from his native Mansehra.The PTI itself dos not come out of the episode with credit. Mr Khan’s attempt to blame the Army for the resurgence of militancy does not explain what his government was doing in KP, while Senator Swati’s blaming the COAS for the Sharifs’ acquittal does not explain why the PTI could not bring the case to fruition, even if one accepts that there was no element of victimization.
