Blowing hot and cold
Barely a day had passed since President Arif Alvi called on political parties to put a freeze on politicking and work together to help flood-hit people that he walked back the statement. It is not clear what caused this change of heart, but most people suspect that the most active politicker amid the floods has been Alvi’s party chief, ex-PM Imran Khan. The inadvertent criticism of the PTI chief would not have gone down well with some of the party leadership and several rank-and-file members and supporters.
However, it was still unfortunate that Alvi ‘updated’ his position. His detractors have long noted that despite the presidency being an ostensibly neutral office, Alvi’s exercise of presidential powers has been quite partisan. His initial comment was one of the rare instances of him clearly acting as the president, rather than a party worker. His later comment was just a bad attempt to dilute criticism from within his party, but it seems to have backfired, as PTI supporters are still upset, while leaders and supporters of other parties who praised, or at least avoided criticising his comments, have turned their guns on him.
The fact is that all over the world, in times of crisis, rival parties come together for the good of the nation. Even Pakistan used to be this way. Whether the 2010 floods, counterterrorism operations, or other tragic events, political parties would suspend politicking and focus on debating issues such as disaster response and aid distribution. Saving lives and keeping the country running are more important than maintaining political momentum or ‘motivating’ party workers.
Alvi may feel that he does not have a duty to play a role in bringing a highly polarised country together, but the president is the head of state for all Pakistanis, not just one party. If he only wants to think of his party, we should remind that all of the 33 million flood affectees are either current or future voters. Ignoring them, or making them feel that they are anything less than the top priority, nay, the only priority, will also backfire electorally.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 4th, 2022.
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