LAHORE: President Arif Alvi on Friday offered to play his role to bring politicians on a table and said that he was ready to speak to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PTI Chairman Imran Khan.
Speaking to senior journalists at Governor House, Arif Alvi said that political leadership should think of ongoing political and economic situation and should set aside their egos and sit on a table to address the issues.
“President has a constitutional role and I am willing to play any role to mediate between political leaders,” he said, adding that he was ready to talk to Shehbaz Sharif and Imran Khan for the sake of nation.
“I will try to end the hostilities and create an atmosphere to hold elections as soon as possible,” he said. He further warned that any conflict between Centre and provinces could be dangerous.
The president further said that he has signed 85 summaries sent by the prime minister and had only returned two of them relating to EVM and voting rights of overseas Pakistanis.
“Since, I worked on both these matters previously, I was convinced against reversing their use in the elections,” they said.
He stressed against making the Pakistan Army “controversial” .”Time and again, I have been telling politicians to not bring the armed forces under discussion,” he said.
The president stressed that the armed forces are responsible for the country’s security and in light of their role, politicians should refrain from making the institution controversial.
“It was the armed forces’ job to win the battle against terrorism; they should be respected,” President Alvi said.
The president noted that he was the constitutional head of all the country’s institutions, and he respects all of them.
“There are talks of the appointment of the army chief and judges. For the judiciary, the chief justice has stated that there should be a standard; I agree with him,” the president said.
Moving on to the prohibited funding case, the president said that the PTI was “caught in the foreign funding case” as they kept records of their accounts.
The president, explaining the funding received from abroad, said that under United States laws, if a party wants to collect funds, it has to establish a company.
The president, addressing all stakeholders of the country, said that the situation “was not ideal” and that it was crucial for politicians to sit at the talking table.
He also said that there was an issue of mismanagement in Pakistan and he told the same to the party chairman, Khan. However, he said that the former prime minister had his own stance.
