Lahore: President Dr Arif Alvi called upon political parties to refrain from bringing Pakistan Army into political discourse, saying military was guarantor of national security and “it should not be made controversial”. Speaking to reporters at Governor House here, Dr Alvi said that there was a need to initiate a “consultative process” to bring all important stakeholders of country to a negotiation table.

“However, constitutional role of a president does not allow him to officially reach out to stakeholders.”

Dr Alvi stated that it was primary responsibility of government, opposition and all other relevant institutions to deliberate upon defusing rising polarisation in country. He said political parties and stakeholders needed to sit together and chalk out a way forward, especially with regard to holding free and fair elections and developing a charter of economy that could help ease out current political and economic situation. “Everyone will have to think about the situation we are currently embroiled into.”

President also offered to mediate between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PTI Chairman Imran Khan “for sake of country”. “It will be my endeavour to reduce tensions between two leaders and make environment feasible for early elections.” Dr Alvi stressed that a conflict between federal government and provinces was unfavourable for country, stressing that it should be settled. He added that he had been “reminding all stakeholders that things are not right”. President said that he had also been informing Imran about management issues in Pakistan, adding that “he had his own viewpoint over matter.” He stressed that stakeholders within Pakistan should only be involved in hammering out issues confronting country without any involvement of any foreign persons or a country. During talk, President insisted that he had a very cordial relationship with incumbent government, saying he accorded timely approval to all summaries sent by PM Shehbaz, except for four which were delayed.

He also revealed that he held more discussions with incumbent prime minister as compared to Imran. Separately, President highlighted corruption as “a major reason for backwardness of any country”. “One of best ways to counter corruption is to make all financial transactions through formal banking channels, especially when it comes to political parties while receiving and managing donations,” he suggested. Dr Alvi opined that 90 percent of social media was “good” as “it provides huge chunk of information and we should learn to deal with remaining 10pc by filtering out fake news and hearsay”.

President said he was main proponent of electronic voting machines since long even during governments of PPP and PML-N. While commenting on government talks with proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, he said he was of opinion that any such negotiations should be mandated by parliament and they ought to be pursued in confidence to reach some amicable outcome. “Result should be reported back to parliament before making them public,” he said.

Published in The Daily National Courier, August, 13 2022

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