Alvi rings in 2023 with electoral advice

President encapsulates his office’s performance in outgoing year

ISLAMABAD:

President Dr Arif Alvi says 2023 is the year of elections in Pakistan therefore, every person should ensure that a good government could be formed in the country and stressed the need for society to focus on education of the family and the social and moral values.

While expressing his views in a short documentary about the one-year (2022) performance of the Aiwan-e-Sadr, the president says that he enjoys his working relationship with the incumbent coalition government, as he and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif both respect each other’s offices.

Though sometimes, the president sent back unsigned the pieces of legislation sent by the government after due consideration, he says he is spearheading his efforts to bring the political parties together in order to steer Pakistan out of the crises of polarisation and lack of dialogue.

About 2023, the president said that he foresaw it as an election year and stressed that every person should participate and ensure that a good government could be formed. Besides, he added, the society should focus on education of the family and the social and moral values.

“I have the confidence that Pakistan will make progress by leaps and bounds in every field by cultivating certain habits and values like seeking of knowledge, consideration for the human beings, kindness and forgiveness,” he added.

The documentary says that President Alvi remained a “distinct figure” during 2022, owing to his all-bracing pursuit of social, moral, educational and political reforms, reminding the society to adopt the latest developments in science and technology with an urge to steer the country out of the current challenges.

Alvi is also spearheading public awareness campaigns for forging unity and to bring political parties together. After the change of government in April last year, he said, he tried to steer Pakistan out of the crises of polarisation, lack of dialogue for the future and the issues that had become critical.

The president expressed his views on the ongoing campaigns about the breast cancer, women’s rights, rights of the differentially-abled persons, revolution in the information technology and the political situation of the country.

Referring to recent floods in Pakistan, the president emphasised that the climate-induced deluge had caused widespread devastation as vast tracts of land, spread over hundreds of miles in Balochistan and Sindh, had been under floodwater, forcing the people to migrate.

The world support in this regard was not sufficient, he said, adding a donors’ conference was being held in Geneva, and he hoped that it would have positive outcome. Alvi, however, thanked those countries, institutions, NGOs and civilian and military organisations, who had supported Pakistan during the flood.

President Dr Arif Alvi and First Lady Begum Samina Alvi had been very vocal about women’s rights. The president stressed that it was society’s responsibility to provide a harassment-free environment to the women.

The president expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of the breast cancer awareness drive spearheaded by him and Begum Alvi. “Now, it is no more considered a taboo in families,” he said. He stressed the need for a national programme to overcome issues like mental stress among a number of families and students.

The president, during the past year, also campaigned for nurturing the talents of youth with adequate focus on IT education. He opined that the IT sector has witnessed exponential growth, providing a window to Pakistan to find a place among the developed countries within a decade as the world was looking for IT-trained people.

Besides, appeals against the Federal Ombudsmen’s decisions were made to the president. Alvi recalled that a case pertained to the levy of tax on an old person by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and regretted that for a meagre amount of Rs2,033, the FBR spent a precious amount and wasted time.