Former attorney general for Pakistan Irfan Qadir has said that those who are advising President Dr Arif Alvi are embarrassing him as he has been dragged into political matters.
“The president commands respect as he is the head of the state. He is unnecessarily been dragged into these things, which should not be done,” he told Aaj News on Wednesday.
In a letter to ECP Chief Sikandar Sultan Raja, President Alvi proposed the date for holding the general election in the country. The election should be held on November 6, the president said in the letter on Wednesday.
According to Qadir, the president has been misled by his advisers.
“Most of legal advisers do not know that wherever the president’s name is in the constitution, it does not mean he will do it. In parliamentary democracy, the president is a ceremonial office,” he said.
Former secretary of ECP Kanwar Dilshad has called President Arif Alvi’s letter to the commission’s chief on the election date, an inappropriate action.
“Yesterday, the law minister briefed him for about one and half hours that he does not have the authority to give a date. Despite that, the letter was sent which is inappropriate,” he said.
The president should not have written the letter to the ECP chief given that he had refused to meet him before, Dilshad said, adding that the electoral body will soon respond to the letter and tell the president that it is not his mandate to give a date for holding the elections.
“The president’s tenure ended on September 9. He [Alvi] is now an interim president whose powers and authorities have been reduced with the end of his five-year tenure,” he added.
Barrister Waqas Abraiz said that Article 45 and its clauses do not mention anything about a caretaker president.
“Clause A says that the president’s tenure will be of five years. Clause B adds that the president will hold his office till a successor takes his place. The president will continue to exercise all the authorities and powers till that time,” he added.
Barrister Abraiz was of the view that articles of the Election Act cannot be given priority over the Constitution of Pakistan.
“The Constitution of Pakistan is the supreme law of the land,” he said, adding that the president has given the date under the Constitution and the ECP chief is legally and morally bound to complete the prerequisite for holding the elections on time.
