PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Senator Azam Swati on Thursday moved the Peshawar High Court seeking permission for diplomatic travel to go to neighbouring Afghanistan.
Advocate Ali Azeem Afridi, counsel for the petitioner, filed the writ in which the federal government, deputy prime minister, chief protocol officer, deputy chief protocol officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Senate secretary, and secretary of Foreign Affairs have been made respondents.
The petition said that Azam Swati had served as a senator three times and had also been a federal minister for as many times.It said that he wished to travel to Afghanistan with his wife, therefore, sought diplomatic travel permission.
The petition said that the deputy chief protocol officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a Note Verbale on August 12, but the visa process was halted on the directives of Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar. “Stopping the Note Verbale is illegal, as the Constitution of Pakistan grants every citizen the freedom of movement, which is a fundamental right,” the petition read.
Later, talking to reporters, Azam Swati said that a country where elected lawmakers were whisked away from the Parliament has no future. He claimed that PTI was working to unite the country but certain elements were adamant to create hatred against the institutions.
Azam Swati also alleged that former army chief General (r) Bajwa was responsible for the prevailing situation.“A country where people are abducted from Parliament has no future. Criminals like Nawaz Sharif and others are being given refuge in the country,” he said.
He termed Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s decisions the worst examples in the judicial history of the country. All political parties must come together to stop the judicial coup.About his interaction with the establishment, Azam Swati said that it had no substance that I talked to the establishment. The Tarnol rally, he added, was postponed due to the threat of bloodshed. It wasn’t the army but Mohsin Naqvi, who had blocked the rally routes by placing containers.