Political leaders across parties, journalists one voice in condemning Swati, wife incident
Islamabad
PTI Senator Azam Swati’s press conference where he broke down while claiming his wife was sent a private video of her and him from an unknown number, was met with widespread shock and outrage on Saturday.
During the presser, he revealed that his daughter kept weeping on the other side of the phone and said, “Daddy, this video isn’t of anyone else.. it is yours and my mother’s”.
Former finance minister Miftah Ismail, from PTI’s arch rival party the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), stated that he had never felt the urge to retweet PTI chief Imran Khan but “had to agree” that the video of Swati’s spouse was “beyond the pale”.
“I feel ashamed that an honourable woman can be so humiliated in my country. This madness must stop,” he wrote on his official Twitter handle.
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Siraj-ul-Haq said that the “worst treatment meted out to Senator Azam Swati was extremely shameful”, adding that his press conference was “heartbreaking”.
He urged the Senate chair to “form a parliamentary committee to investigate the matter immediately” and urged the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the events.
“Reveal the truth before the nation and punish the culprit severely,” he said.
Senior journalist Hamid Mir stated that all the parties in the Senate should form a joint parliamentary inquiry committee on Swati’s complaint and advised them to “not wait for the Supreme Court”.
“This committee should submit its report to the House within two weeks,” he said.
PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry stated that the incident marked “another sad day” in the history of Pakistan and asked what was wrong with people.
“No sane mind will choose to go this path with political opposition… sad very sad,” the former minister said.
He further claimed that it was “as if the guesthouses of the Supreme Court are covered with hidden cameras”.
“Private videos have been recorded from the Prime Minister’s Office to the judges of the Supreme Court,” he said, deeming it a tragic situation.
PTI member Dr Shahbaz Gill, who also claimed of being tortured while in custody, said that the whole nation was embarrassed before Azam Swati.
