Solangi urges President Alvi to play his constitutional role

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi said President Arif Alvi should play his constitutional role instead of giving statements that show his bias for a specific political party.

Speaking to a private news channel, he said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was a registered political party with a large number of spokespersons who were using every resource to speak for themselves.

The President should not make such statements that showed his “bias” towards a certain political party, the minister added.

As regards the letter written by the President to Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar about absence of a level-playing field, he said how many times President Arif Alvi conveyed his concerns to former PM Imran Khan over the human rights violations during the four-year tenure of the PTI’s government.

He recalled that the journalists were abducted and attacked, opposition leaders arrested under false cases and media gags were imposed during the PTI’s government tenure.

The minister said the National Assembly was dissolved illegally for the first time in history to prevent the no-confidence motion against former prime minister Imran Khan.

He said the President had a role of the symbol of federation in the constitutional framework and he should fulfill his responsibilities by the constitution.

According to the constitution, the President was the supreme commander of the armed forces, he said, adding why President Arif Alvi did not take any action when the sensitive installations were attacked on May 9. “How many letters, did the President write in this regard,” Solangi questioned.

To a query, he asked PTI leader Omar Ayub to refrain from lecturing him on his constitutional duties.

He said if any party or individual had any complaint regarding a level-playing field in the elections, they could reach out to the courts and the Election Commission which were functioning independently in the country.

To another query, the minister said the caretaker government would address all the complaints within its jurisdiction and by the Constitution and law.

The Election Commission was responsible for conducting transparent, free, fair, and impartial elections in the country, he remarked.