President of Pakistan Arif Alvi. File | Photo credit: AFP
Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi has been criticized by ruling coalition ministers for allegedly following the advice of former Prime Minister Imran Khan to appoint the country’s election watchdog to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provincial assembly elections. Press to announce the dates of
President Alvi, who is from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, on Saturday communicated to Pakistan’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja on February 20 election dates for the two assemblies. Invited to an emergency meeting for consideration.
This letter was written after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) did not receive a response to its earlier letter written on February 8. In another letter, the President expressed his dismay at the “indifference and inaction” on this part. of Election Supervisor.
In separate statements, the interior, defense and law ministers criticized the president and reminded him of his constitutional mandate.
Arif Alvi should work. [the] President of Pakistan. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that you should not act as Imran Khan’s spokesperson. The Express Tribune Newspaper
He said that the President has nothing to do with the announcement of the election date.
Mr. Sanaullah accused the president of interfering with the constitutional authority of the ECP, claiming that Mr. Khan was trying to pressure the commission through the president’s office, the report said.
Defense Minister Khawaja Asif also criticized the President for “interfering” in the election watchdog’s affairs.
“Mr. Arif Alvi, stay within your constitutional limits,” Mr. Asif tweeted.
“Don’t do politics. If not [for] Think about yourself, about the dignity of your position,” he added.
Mr Asif alleged that Mr Alvi had “captured” the post of president as a result of the “election” in the 2018 general elections – a clear reference to the PML-N’s claim that powerful constituencies in those elections was rigged by ‘, said the report.
The Minister of Law and Justice Azam Nazir Tarar reminded the President that the Constitution did not give him the authority to give the dates of the Provincial Assembly elections.
He said that Mr. Alvi should not criticize the ECP on the instructions of his “leader”.
The provincial assembly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was dissolved on January 18 after Governor Haji Ghulam Ali accepted the dissolution request of Chief Minister Mehmood Khan, who is the leader of Mr. Khan’s PTI party.
This move has come a few days after the assembly was dissolved in Punjab on the orders of Mr. Khan. Both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab were ruled by Tehreek-e-Insaf.
The dissolution of the two provincial assemblies is being seen as an attempt by Mr. Khan to call early national elections. The former prime minister has been calling for fresh elections since being ousted from the top post by a no-confidence motion in April 2022.
