Islamabad: Pakistan President Dr Arif Alvi, in a surprise move, called for the establishment of a government that ‘truly represents’ the people of Pakistan and their aspirations for political and economic stability.
Dr Arif Alvi’s statement comes at a time when former premier Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is building pressure on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to resign and announce general elections in the country.
The president expressed these views while addressing the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (ICCI) 5th Business Excellence Awards ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadr (President House).
PTI majority in Punjab Assembly
According to analysts, the president deliberately made the statement to politically benefit the PTI, on whose ticket he was elected twice as Member of the National Assembly from Karachi.
The PTI commands the majority seats in the assembly after the July 17 by-election and won 15 out of 20 seats, qualifying as the majority party with a total 177 seats in the 371-member Punjab Assembly.
However, despite being the largest parliamentary party, it has not been allowed to form a government in the province.
Under this scenario, such a statement by Alvi is being seen as adding to the woes of the Shehbaz-led coalition government.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court has already scheduled an important case for hearing on July 25 that will decide the fate of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’ (PML-N) Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz Sharif, whose party has 167 members in the provincial assembly.
In his statement, the president said state institutions and the media should help create an environment to set up a government that truly represents the people of Pakistan.
Such a government, the president said, would reflect people’s aspirations and bring stability to the country politically and economically, adding it would also promote business, trade and investment in the country
Pakistan could rise within a decade if it strengthened its democracy and its leadership made the right decisions, curbed corruption, and upheld justice and promoted human rights, the president said.
He said Pakistan needed to maintain cordial relations with all global partners and avoid becoming a party to divisive politics in international relations.
He urged the business community to invest in developing intellectual avenues as by upgrading human resources in different sectors of the economy especially the IT sector could help Pakistan achieve high economic growth rates.
