PTI’s internal accountability committee: KP Assembly speaker cleared of illegal appointments charges

MANSEHRA: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s internal accountability committee on Sunday cleared Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati of allegations made against him.

Former senator Azam Khan Swati had accused the KP Assembly speaker of making illegal appointments in the provincial assembly.

“Azam Khan Swati changed his attitude following his release from Attock jail and began a campaign against Speaker Babar Saleem Swati. He submitted a booklet to the committee, but it did not contain any evidence of financial irregularities or corruption,” it was revealed by the committee in its report obtained by this correspondent.

The seven-page report, which the committee finalised earlier this week and released on Sunday, also questioned the sudden shift in Azam Swati’s stance toward the establishment after his release from the Attock jail earlier this year.

The PTI internal accountability committee was formed in 2024 by former prime minister Imran Khan. The committee comprised Shah Farman, former governor, Qazi Mohammad Anwar, former senator and ex-president of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan and Brigadier retired Musaddaq, former head of the KP Anti-Corruption Establishment.

The report, which was signed by Anwar discussed the background which led to public outrage of Azam Khan Swati against the speaker, stating that a coordinated campaign against the latter was launched after the KP Assembly, under his chairmanship, passed a resolution condemning the killing of PTI workers at D-Chowk on November 26, 2024.

“Swati’s historic and fiery speech condemned the D-Chowk incident at the start of the session, and his remarks were followed by strong speeches from both treasury and opposition benches, which led to the unanimous passage of the resolution condemning the incident,” the report highlighted.

It further noted that Swati again drew criticism when he, alongside PTI’s provincial president Junaid Akbar Khan and general secretary Salman Raja, condemned the killing of 11 people, mostly women and children, in a drone strike in Katlang.

It further said that the backlash intensified after a controversial statement issued by a federal government spokesperson on that specific incident.

The report also addressed Azam Swati’s focus on alleged irregularities in the KP Assembly, particularly the appointment of grade-IV employees, clarifying that Speaker Babar Saleem Swati had not made any new appointments but had only approved the promotions of existing KP Assembly Secretariat staff according to government rules.

“We reviewed the records of each promotion case and found that all promoted employees were originally appointed before Babar Saleem Swati’s tenure and their promotions were conducted strictly under government regulations,” the report stated.

It further pointed out that former KP Assembly speaker Mushtaq Ghani had appointed as many as 346 employees from Grade-17 and above, most of them from his home constituency in Abbottabad, while former speaker Asad Qaiser had also appointed 75 officers from Grade-1 to 19 during his term.