A former minister from Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has landed himself in hot water after openly criticising Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
A few hours after he slammed Bajwa via a tweet, Azam Khan Swati was arrested on Thursday for putting out what the country's federal agency described as a "highly obnoxious and intimidating message" against state institutions, the Dawn newspaper reported.
"Mr Bajwa congratulations to you and few with you. Your plan is really working and all criminals are getting free at cost of this country. With these thugs getting free You have legitimised corruption. How do you now predict the future of this country?" senator Swati said in a tweet.
The PTI leader's tweet came after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz were acquitted in a high-profile money laundering case on Wednesday. The father and son duo were acquitted by a special court in the case lodged against them by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
Speaking to media outside the court in Islamabad, Azam Khan Swati said he was not arrested for breaking the law, violating the Constitution or fundamental rights but for taking the name of army chief Bajwa.
On further probe by reporters, the PTI leader said he was being tortured by "agencies". "A parliamentarian has been unclothed," he said. "I am telling the nation."
Former Prime Minister and PTI chief Imran Khan, who is locked in a fierce political battle with the Shehbaz Sharif government, said his party leader was being tortured.
"I'm saying to all institutions that if you think that you can get respected by committing torture, don't have that misunderstanding," he was quoted as saying by Dawn during a rally in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Separately via a tweet, Khan asked "Azam Swati's custodial torture for a tweet on NRO 2 is yet another shameful act in our history. Can torture & intimidation make people respect any individual or institution?"
Pakistan is considered one of the world's deadliest countries for freedom of speech.
Any journalist who crosses the red lines dictated by the Pakistan military is liable to be the target of in-depth surveillance that could lead to abduction and detention for varying lengths of time in the state's prisons or less official jails, according to the Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Furthermore, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's leading military intelligence agency, is prepared to silence any critic once and for all, the media watchdog says.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor