ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was approached on Tuesday with a plea to declare President Dr Arif Alvi unfit to hold the high office of president within the meaning of Article 41 of the Constitution.

The petition filed by a private citizen, Chaudhry Mohammad Imtiaz, highlighted that the prevalent instability in the country was the main source of inconvenience to the nation.

This insecurity is the result of the alleged conflict between the government and the president on the instance of PTI Chairman Imran Khan, the petition argued, adding that the latter refused to provide assent to a number of bills presented to him after being approved by both houses of parliament such as Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023, Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022, Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Act, 2022, The National Account­ability (Second Amend­ment) Bill 2021 etc.

The events clearly showed that Dr Alvi was allegedly unfit to hold the president’s position because of his inclination towards a particular political party, which did not suit such a prestigious office, according to the petition.

Petitioner says president’s inclination towards one political party is clear from his past and present conduct

Being the head of the state, the president should have certain characteristics like he should be impartial and should refrain from the exhibition of political leanings, preference, bias, or association, the petition said. But it alleged all the acts and deeds of the president clearly indicated he was an active member of one political party, with no sign to show his impartiality.

Moreover, it said, the president always tried to thwart all the legitimate efforts of the sitting government and in fact, he was creating impediments/hurdles in the smooth running of affairs of the government does he is not capable to hold office.

In the parliamentary form of government and as per the constitution, it is the cabinet/ parliament that enjoys supremacy as the respondent is just a formal head of the state while the affairs of the government are run by the prime minister and its cabinet. Yet the president through his alleged acts and deeds showed that he acted at 180 degrees opposite to the decisions of the government and tried to fail the sitting cabinet, the petitioner alleged.

Such instances were sufficient to impeach the credibility of the president and to prove that he was a person of ordinary calibre and not eligible to hold such a prestigious office of the country, it argued.

The president without consultation with the Election Commission of Pakistan on April 9 announced the election date for both Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies, which again was clearly in violation of Article 57 (1) of the constitution, the petition alleged, adding that the respondent had proved by his acts he was not eligible to act as head of the state. It drew the court’s attention towards the past and present conduct of President Alvi and his tendency of inclination towards one political party.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2023