LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Senator Azam Swati, who has allegedly been on the receiving end of the wrath of law enforcement agencies over his tweets against the army chief, broke down on Saturday while sharing ghastly allegations of how his family had been sent an obscene video in an attempt to cow him into submission.

During a press conference in Lahore, a tearful Swati narrated how his wife received an “obscene video clip” featuring the couple from an unknown number, but refused to share further details about the video, saying they were too shameful to be disclosed.

The senator said his family has left the country after receiving the shameful video. The revelations also prompted calls for a suo motu by the Supreme Court on the treatment being meted out to the 74-year-old senator.

According to the PTI leader, he was in Lahore on Friday night when he received a call from his wife who was in Islamabad. “She was hysterical and screaming,” he said, adding that his daughter took the phone and explained why her mother was upset. The senator said that his daughter, while crying, said that the senator featured in the objectionable video as well.

FIA statement says video clip ‘doctored’; ‘shameless act’ condemned across party lines

“I asked her how it is possible,” the senator said, bursting into tears. He added that his daughter also told him that the video was from when Mr Swati and his wife had visited Quetta.

Saying that he had initially thought it was a video that had been filmed during his detention by law enforcement agencies, or that it had been faked, the senator told reporters that his daughter said: “Daddy this isn’t someone else. It’s you and mom.”

During his presser, Mr Swati hinted at the possibility that some parts of the video might have been recorded during his stay at the judicial complex in Quetta, where his family was lodged at the behest of Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani.

Mr Swati claimed that Sadiq Sanjrani was close to the establishment as he blamed state institutions for the release of the “secretly filmed video”, which was “recorded because there was nothing else against him”.

The PTI senator once again blamed the interior minister and two military officers for conspiring against him and said they should be held accountable if something happened to him.

Video ‘faked’

Shortly afterwards, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) termed the video fake. In a press release, the investigation agency said that the obscene video circulating on the internet about Senator Azam Swati has been “analysed forensically and found to be fake”.

“The initial video/audio and frame to frame forensic analysis has been carried out on the viral video as per International Forensic Analysis standard. Initial forensic analysis revealed that video has been edited and different video clips have been joined with defaced faces,” the statement said, adding that further analysis revealed that faces have been swapped in the images using Photoshop.

The FIA urged Azam Swati to lodge a complaint with FIA and share his concerns about the reason for thinking the video clip to be authentic. “Prima facie, it is a fake video, edited with deep fake tools to create misunderstanding and defame the honourable senator,” he added.

Condemnation

The video clip and the anguish it caused the senator drew widespread condemnation from across party lines, as politicians and lawmakers termed the treatment meted out to Mr Swati against fundamental human rights.

Mr Swati’s leader, PTI chief Imran Khan, tweeted: “It is both shocking, despicable & utterly condemnable. No human being should have to suffer this. I call on the CJP to take suo moto notice of this.”

Former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani condemned the video of Senator Swati’s family as shameful and condemned it in the strongest terms. “These acts of madness need to stop immediately. This is dragging politics to the lowest ebb,” the PPP leader added.

Former finance minister and PML-N leader Miftah Ismail said, “The video of Begum Azam Swati is clearly beyond the pale. I feel ashamed that an honourable woman can be so humiliated in my country. This madness must stop.”

In a tweet, PPP leader Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said, “What’s remarkable is that the alleged filming took place at a judicial guest house in Quetta and so far it hasn’t ruffled a feather in the Supreme Court. My lords!?”

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2022