MANSEHRA: Differences in the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, which began earlier this year after former Senator Azam Khan Swati leveled corruption charges against lawmakers from here, deepened on Wednesday when Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati publicly rubbished them for the first time.
“Azam Khan’s graft allegations are baseless and unfounded. I will never resign from the speaker’s office at his demand. However, if [PTI founder] Imran Khan asks me to step down, I will do so instantly,” Mr Babar told reporters here.
PTI central vice president Azam Khan Swati, who had accused lawmakers from Mansehra district of corruption in Feb, reiterated his stand during Eid holidays and demanded Babar Saleem’s resignation.
“This is a case of Mansehra’s mega corruption. When I discussed this issue with Imran Khan in jail, he wondered if the committee formed by the chief minister to look into the matter had made a decision. If so, the speaker should accept it and resign,” Swati claimed after meeting the detained PTI founder in Rawalpindi on Tuesday.
Swati repeats graft charges against local lawmakers; PA Speaker Babar rejects allegations as baseless
Mr Swati, who himself faces allegations of being released from jail through a deal in Feb 2025, also criticised PTI’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president and MNA Junaid Akbar.
“Instead of addressing my corruption allegations against lawmakers, Mr Akbar appointed one of the accused MPAs, Akramullah Ghazi, as the president of PTI’s Mansehra chapter, while the former president in the district, Sardar Khan, was given the portfolio of general secretary for Hazara division,” he said.
The former senator said Imran Khan also directed Junaid Akbar to reverse all those appointments.
Speaker Babar dismissed Swati’s claims as fabricated and one-sided and said that he would not step down as the speaker.
“Azam Swati is a habitual liar, and his words hold no truth. This is nothing but a personal vendetta against me and other lawmakers. I will not even consider resigning unless my leader, Imran Khan, orders me to do so,” he said.
Mr Babar further said that he would personally take up the baseless corruption charges hurled by Mr Azam against him and other lawmakers from Mansehra with PTI’s founding chairman, Imran Khan, and present his case to him.
“Azam Khan Swati is a hypocrite. I will not bow to his baseless propaganda and trumped-up corruption charges. The sanctity of PTI and its founding chairman, Imran Khan, is of utmost importance to me and my family,” he said.
Meanwhile, PTI central leader Salman Akram Raja, who oversees the party’s internal affairs, told reporters that there was a proper hierarchy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, so he would discuss the issue with Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and provincial president Junaid Akbar Khan.
“I am optimistic they [Gandapur and Akbar] would act in accordance with the committee’s recommendations regarding the alleged corruption in Mansehra,” he said.
He said that Qazi Anwar led the party’s accountability committee at the centre to check corruption allegations.
Sources in the PTI’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter revealed that the committee, constituted by Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and provincial president Junaid Akbar, after Speaker Babar Saleem voluntarily presented himself for accountability, had yet to present its findings to PTI founder Imran Khan.
Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2025
