ISLAMABAD (Dunya News/Web Desk) – Blasting him for not convening the National Assembly’s inaugural session, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday said President Arif Alvi wasn’t suitable for the office and many legal issues would create problems for him.
Alvi had completed his tenure and trampled the constitution in the past too, Bilawal and cited the dissolution of National Assembly at a time when no-confidence motion was filed against the then PTI government by the joint opposition led by PDM.
The president was [again] violating not only his oath but also the constitution, the PPP chairman said when media persons asked him about the situation developing after Alvi returned the summary about holding a National Assembly session, which is mandatory within 21 days of elections.
Bilawal, who was talking to reporters outside the Supreme Court after attending the hearing of Bhutto reference, stressed that all the institutions would have to work within the given constitutional domain.
At the same time, he stressed that the politicians too would have to remain within their ambit and respect each other; otherwise, no one was going to give them the status they deserve.
They would get Asif Ali Zardari elected as the president yet again, he added, as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has already announced schedule for the exercise with the polling to be held on March 9 simultaneously at National Assembly, Senate and the four provincial legislatures which form the electoral college for the office.
About the SIC [Sunni Ittehad Council], he said the entity didn’t contact the PPP for votes and there was no justification for criticising his party for not cooperating.
The PTI-independents have joined the SIC en masse after their success in the Feb 8 elections and now trying to get the reserved seats not only in the National Assembly but also provincial legislatures of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh – a claim to be decided by the ECP and contested by the rival parties.
Earlier on Monday, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf summoned the National Assembly session on Feb 29 in response to the president's refusal to meet his constitutional obligation.
The move came as senior leaders from PML-N and PPP said the speaker had authority to summon the House, if the president didn’t sign the summary sent by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, arguing that the Lower House of Parliament would remain incomplete until all parties were assigned the reserved seats for women and minorities.
According to Article 91 of the Constitution, if the president does not sign the summary for convening a session, the National Assembly speaker is mandated to do the same on the 21st day following the elections.