-Senate committee to probe video leak claims
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan Sunday denied PTI leader Senator Azam Khan Swati’s stay at the judicial lodges in Quetta.
A day earlier, senator Swati held a press conference to talk about the allegedly ob-jectionable videos of himself and his wife circulating on the internet. It was also alleged that the video was recorded during his stay at the top court’s rest house in Quetta.
However, the SC categorically denied the claim, stating that the rest house is being managed and supervised by its registrar’s office and is meant for the use of serving and former judges of the top court only.
“It is clarified that Mr Muhammad Azam Swati never used/stayed in Supreme Court judges rest house at Quetta,” a statement by the SC read.
The SC’s public relations office further clarified that the senator was instead stay-ing at the Balochistan Judicial Academy (Judicial Complex Quetta), as informed by the province’s special branch.
The Judicial Complex Quetta does not, however, fall under the Supreme Court’s control.
It should be noted that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) declared the said video fake a day ago. The agency shared its findings with the public after conduct-ing a forensic analysis of the video as per international forensic analysis standards.
It said that the video was made using “deep fake tools to create misunderstanding and defame the honourable Senator”.
On the other hand, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Sunday formed a 14-member special committee to probe the alleged “obscene video” of Senator Azam Khan Swati.
The committee includes Senators Azam Nazeer Tarar, Mohsen Aziz, Yousaf Raza Gillani, Molana Abdul Ghafoor Hyderi, and Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar.
Senators Faisal Subzwari, Tahir Bizenjo, Muhammad Shafiq Tareen, Mushtaq Ahmed, Muhammad Qasim, Muzaffar Hussain Shah, Hidayat Ullah, Kamil Ali Agha and Dilawar Khan are also part of the committee.
A notification was issued yesterday, according to which, the special committee will inquire into the video leak from every aspect.
The notification also said that the members of the committee will decide on the convener by themselves.
The chairman of the Senate directed the special committee to submit a report within 30 days.
In a press conference Saturday, the PTI leader said that his wife was sent a video of herself and Swati on her phone without any number.
“The video is of a stay at the Quetta Supreme Court Judicial Lodges,” the senator said while incessantly shedding tears during the presser.
He shared that his wife, daughter, and granddaughters have left the country since the video surfaced.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) declared the alleged video as “fake”, stat-ing that the video was analysed forensically as per international forensic analysis standards.
The agency shared that the said video was made using “deep fake tools to create misunderstanding and defame the Honourable Senator”.
“Initial forensic analysis revealed that the video has been edited and different video clips have been joined with defaced faces. Further analysis, revealed that faces have been swapped in the images using photoshop,” FIA stated in its statement on Saturday.
