President Arif Alvi on Friday was given a farewell guard of honour at Aiwan-e-Sadr on the completion of his constitutional term. The president was escorted to the salute dais who, after the national anthem, reviewed the guard of honor presented by the smartly turned out contingents of the armed forces. Alvi was elected as the country’s 13th president following the election victory of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party led by then-Prime Minister Imran Khan, and took the oath of office on Sept. 9, 2018, succeeding Mamnoon Hussain. Alvi appeared to be proactive after the ouster of Khan through a no-trust vote in April 2022, giving the Sharif government a tough time. He took on the previous regime from the very first day, when he refused to administer the oath to Shehbaz Sharif. The latest controversy he found himself in was legislation last year that according to him he did not sign and yet became law. The legislation, involving two bills – the Official Secrets Act Amendment Bill 2023 and the Pakistan Army Amendment Bill 2023. He remained vocal against the registration of a host of cases against the jailed former premier following his ouster.

Alvi, close ally of Imran Khan, ran for the seat of Provincial Assembly of Sindh as a candidate of PTI from constituency PS-114 (Karachi) in Pakistani general election, 1997, but remained unsuccessful. He again ran for the provincial assembly seat in 2002 elections on PTI ticket from PS-90 (Karachi-II) but was unsuccessful and secured only 1,276 votes. He served as PTI secretary general from 2006 to 2013. Arif Alvi was elected as member of the National Assembly of Pakistan for the first time in general election 2013 on PTI ticket from NA-250. Alvi was the only PTI member to win a National Assembly seat from Sindh in 2013 elections. In 2016, he was made president of PTI Sindh chapter. Alvi was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PTI from constituency NA-247 (Karachi South-II) in general election 2018. He was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from June 2013 to May 2018 and again from August to September 2018. His father Dr Habib ur Rehman Elahi Alvi was also a dentist.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)