Early elections: Alvi says ready to talk to Shehbaz, Imran

LAHORE: President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday said that he was ready to talk to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan for early elections in the country.

Speaking to senior journalists at the Governor’s House, the president stressed that everyone has to think about the current economic and political conditions of the country, adding that politicians need to get rid of their egos and sit at a table.

“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 the nation.

“Politicians are not sitting together at the talking table; they have to unite. If I don’t see the situation getting better, I will ask them to sit at the table. As the president, I can only ask, not order,” Alvi noted.

President Alvi said he was “worried” that the polarisation was increasing and noted that it had to end in the coming days. “Of course, politicians are not students that we’ll ask them to sit in a classroom forcefully.”

“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. 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,” he said.