President Arif Alvi is likely to resign on September 8 after completing 5 years in the office but before that he will announce the election date, reports Imran Waseem.
Speaking on Naya Daur TV’s flagship programme ‘Khabar Say Aagay (Beyond the Headlines)’ on Friday, Imran Waseem said that his sources were convinced that the president was planning to leave the office but he’d set 5th or 6th of November as the election date before resigning.
Senior analyst Muazamal Suharwardy disagreed with Imran Waseem though. He said that the president was unlikely to resign. “The president has been telling his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) colleagues that he hadn’t signed the Official Secrets and Army acts amendment bills but at the same time he tells the establishment that both bills have become laws despite his refusal to sign them. He’s playing on both sides of the wicket. Besides, he can get arrested in the cipher case if he resigns while he enjoys complete immunity as the president. He has no incentive in resigning,” Suharwardy said.
Imran Waseem agreed with the reasoning Muzamal Suharwardy had given but said that his sources believed that the president was considering his resignation. “However, the sources also believe that if the president doesn’t set a date for the election then he is more likely to continue in his office until the elections are held and the new parliament elects his successor,” Imran added.
It was also reported on Friday that the president had been called upon by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir and the head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmad Anjum earlier in the day.
Senior journalist Mubasher Bukhari on Beyond the Headlines said that the army chief and the president must have met in a cordial environment.
“One of the issues discussed at the meeting might be President Arif Alvi’s resignation too. What I can say with certainty is that if the president announces a date of his own for the elections, despite Election Commission of Pakistan’s clear response that the office of the president is not the competent authority to set a date for elections, he might have to be forced to resign,” Bukhari said.
The show is hosted by Raza Rumi, Monday to Saturday 9 PM on Naya Daur’s Youtube channel.