ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) internal accountability committee has exonerated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati from allegations of illegal appointments, concluding that the accusations were baseless and politically motivated.
The findings were announced on Sunday in a report authored by Advocate Qazi Anwar, a senior committee member and respected legal expert. The investigation was launched after PTI Vice President Azam Khan Swati accused Swati and other lawmakers from Mansehra of corruption and irregular hiring practices earlier this year.
According to the committee, Azam Swati failed to present any verifiable evidence or documents to support his claims. The report also clarified that this Azam Swati is not the same as the former senator who was previously incarcerated, pointing out that it was a case of two individuals sharing the same name.
The committee noted that most of the contested appointments were either made before Babar Swati assumed office as speaker or were carried out within legal and procedural frameworks.
“These allegations appear to be driven by political differences rather than factual grounds,” the report stated. It added that Babar Swati may have been targeted due to his loyalty to the PTI’s central leadership amid internal rifts in the party’s Mansehra chapter.
Earlier this month, Babar Swati had publicly rejected the allegations, which had sparked tensions within the PTI’s local ranks. On April 5, PTI MPA Akramullah Ghazi also claimed the accountability committee had cleared him, Swati, and others named in the complaint.
“The PTI’s accountability panel has given me, Babar Swati, and other assembly members a clean chit after accepting our detailed responses,” Ghazi told reporters.
The report is expected to ease some of the factional strain within the party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, although tensions among local leaders in Mansehra remain palpable.
