DNA
Lahore, 12 August 2022: President Dr Arif Alvi has said that as President all institutions of the country are respected and dear to him and he does not believe in generating any controversy.
While talking to the eminent media persons at Governor’s House, Lahore, today he said that the purpose of his media interaction with eminent media persons was to get a qualified input from them on the prevailing political and economic situation and discuss possible ways and means to bring down the political temperature in the country.
He said that he was given the responsibility by the people of Pakistan as President of Pakistan which rested upon him some important constitutional responsibilities. As a President of the country, all institutions of the country are respectable and dear to him and he does not believe in generating any controversy, however, there are many avenues where improvement can be made through a consultative process, he added.
He said that there was a need to initiate a consultative process to bring all important stakeholders on the table to listen to each other. However, the constitutional role of the President does not allow him officially to reach out to the stakeholders. He further said that it was the primary responsibility of the Executive and the opposition in the Assembly and outside the Assembly and the relevant institutions to deliberate upon defusing the polarization.
While agreeing with the views of an eminent journalist, he said that the political parties and stakeholders needed to sit together and chalk out an agreed way forward, especially with regard to holding free and fair elections and developing a charter of economy that could help ease out the current political polarization and economic situation.
The President further said that he believed that corruption was a major factor in the backwardness of any country. He said one of the best ways to counter corruption was to make all financial transactions through formal Banking channels especially by the political parties while receiving and managing donations.
Replying to another question, he said stakeholders within Pakistan should only be involved in resolving the issues confronting the country without any involvement of any foreign persons or country.
While replying to a question he said that social media is now here to stay but unfortunately, we are not used to it and that it is difficult to control. Therefore, we need to focus on social media and on what is happening on it. He said that 90% of the social media is good and provides lots of information while we should learn to deal with the remaining 10% by filtering out fake news and hearsay.
He further said he had a very cordial relationship with the existing government and he accorded timely approval to all the summaries except four summaries which were delayed while remaining within the ambit of the constitution.
He said that he was the main proponent of EVM since long even during the governments of the Pakistan People’s Party and later Mian Nawaz Sharif. It was he who convinced PTI for the use of Technology during elections. EVM provides extremely simple solutions to conduct free and fair elections. He emphasized the need for consensus on the use of the technology during the election process which, he said, would strengthen the democratic process in the country.
While replying to a question, he said that through Mufti Taqi Usmani had offered the Afghan government to provide Distance Learning and Virtual Mode of education to Afghan students, especially female students. He said Mufti Taqi Usmani, during his talks with Pakistani Taliban, told them that out of all constitutions of the Muslim world, the closest constitution to Islam was the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
While commenting upon the recent reports of Taliban arrival in certain parts of the country, he said that he did not have any opinion on it, as according to reports the negotiations are underway. He said that he was of the opinion that any such negotiations should be mandated by the parliament and may be pursued in confidence to reach some amicable outcome. The result should be reported back to the parliament before making them public.
