MANSEHRA: A member of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf`s internal accountability committee has absolved Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati of all allegations levelled against him by another leader of the party former senator, Azam Khan Swati.

Amid reports of differences between the three members of the committee on the matter, the findings of one of the members Qazi Mohammad Anwar have surfaced stating that `no act of misuse of authority` had been established against Babar Saleem.

Azam Swati had levelled allegations of misuse of authority and committing irregularitiesin promotion of employees against the speaker.

Sources privy to the other two members -retired Brigadier Mussadiq Abbassi and former governor Shah Farman -told Dawn that it was not a report of the committee rather only findings of Qazi Anwar. They said that the report of the committee was yet to be finalised.

`Azam Khan Swati changed his attitude following his release from Attock jail and began a campaign against Babar Saleem. He submitted a booklet to the committee, but it did not contain any evidence of financial irregularities or corruption,` says the seven-page findings, carrying signatures of Qazi Anwar, obtained by this scribe.

He questioned the sudden shift in Azam Swati`s stance towards the establishment after his release from Attock jail earlier this year.

PTI internal accountability committee was formed in 2024 by former prime minister ImranKhan.

Qazi Anwar said in his findings that he was thankful to the other two members, who were kind enough to accept his difference of opinion. The findings discussed the background, which led to public outrage of Azam Swati at Babar Saleem, stating that a coordinated campaign against the latter was launched after KP Assembly, under his chairmanship, passed a resolution, condemning the killing of PTI workers at D-Chowk on November 26, 2024.

`His historic and fiery speech condemned the D-Chowk incident at the start of the session, and his remarks were followed by strong speeches from both treasury and opposition benches, which led to the unanimous passage of the resolution condemning the incident,` he said.

He said that he again drew criticism when he, alongside PTI provincial president Junaid Akbar Khan and central general secretary Salman Raja,condemned the killing of 11 people, mostly women and children, in an alleged drone strike in Katlang area of Mardan.

The findings said that the backlash intensified after a controversial statement was issued by afederalgovernment spokesperson regarding that specific incident.

The findings also addressed Azam Swati`s focus on alleged irregularities in KP Assembly, particularly the appointment of Class-IV employees, clarifying that Babar Saleem had not made new appointments but only approved promotions of existing KP Assembly Secretariat staff according to government rules.

`We reviewed the records of each promotion case and found that all promoted employees were originally appointed before Babar Saleem Swati`s tenure and their promotions were conducted strictly under government regulations,` said Q azi Anwar in his findings.

He said that KP Assembly former speaker Mushtaq Ghani hadappointed as many as 346 employees in BPS-17 and above, most of them from his home constituency in Abbottabad, while former Speaker Asad Q aiser had also appointed 75 officers from BPS-1 to 19 during his term.

Meanwhile, one of the two other committee members said that the findings were from one member of the committee and were yet to be discussed with them.

`In any case which we probe, every member files his own findings that are later scrutinised. By scrutiny I mean common findings are kept aside and uncommon findings are deliberated,` the committee member, who wished not to be named, told Dawn.

He said that a final report was filed and signed once consensus was developed by all the three members of the committee. `We are taking it seriously as to how this report was shared.

These are one member`s findings and I believe someone wanted to discredit the committee,` he said.