PM Shehbaz refers to Alvi’s letter requesting elections as “PTI’s press release” and claims that the president is breaking his oath of duty.
ISLAMABAD:
In his response to President Dr. Arif Alvi’s letter, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stated on Sunday that it not only revealed his clear partisan character but also seemed to be a press release from the PTI, the political organization to which the latter belonged.
In a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz on Friday, President Alvi emphasized the need for him to direct all executive agencies working with the federal and provincial governments to help the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) hold elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa within the legal timeframe.
The president was accused by the premier of openly backing PTI’s anti-government ideas in breach of his oath and office in his answer to that letter.
He continued by saying that Dr. Alvi has already broken his oath on several times by acting in a same political manner.
The premier reacted to the president’s letter by saying, “I am forced to voice, at the beginning, my dismay at the overtly partisan nature of your letter, which in some places looks like a Press Release of the Opposition political party, i.e. the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI).”
Dr. Alvi had consistently espoused the PTI’s biassed, anti-government views, according to PM Shehbaz, despite his constitutional oath and the role of president.
The president’s order to dissolve the National Assembly on April 3, 2022, based on the “illegal” orders of the then-premier Imran Khan, was one of these instances, the premier noted. The Supreme Court later ruled that this move was unconstitutional on April 7, 2022.
Second, PM Shehbaz argued that the president had violated clause (5) of Article 91 by failing to summon him when he took office as prime minister and administer the oath of office.
The premier said, “The sole reason I am replying to your letter is to put your political attitude and acts on record and to correct the record of our administration.”
On the subject of the elections, PM Shehbaz wrote that the president had fixed the dates for the elections in Punjab and K-P at the PTI’s request. He said that the Supreme Court had overturned the president’s decision on March 1, 2023.
According to PM Shehbaz, “You have not expressed any concerns against the blatant dissolution of the Provincial Assembly of the two provinces, that too at the request of and to appease the ego of the Chairman, PTI.”
The premier insisted that the two provincial assemblies had been disbanded in order to intimidate the federal and other two provincial governments, not for any legitimate or constitutional reason.
