Delay in elections will detract democracy: Alvi

Says IT exports to increase $15 to $20 billion in future without govt's support

HYDERABAD:

President Dr Arif Alvi said that Gen Ziaul Haq's coup and subsequent 10-year rule is a recent precedent of how postponement of the elections can derail democracy.

Addressing the business community and a conference in Hyderabad on Saturday, Alvi contended that the constitution is under attack.

Referring to the letter which he wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, he disclosed that he elaborated with examples to the CEC the necessity of holding the elections without delay.

"In the past we saw that when the elections were postponed, and the man who said they will be held after 90 days, he took 10 years [in power]," an indirect reference to Haq's martial law.

"And he also hanged a politician [former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto] to death". He asserted that in a country where the elections are delayed, the system of democracy becomes affected.

The president said that in his letter to the CEC, he also gave examples of the USA where the elections were conducted on time in 1812 and 1864 despite a war with the United Kingdom and during the process of abolition of slavery, respectively.

Alvi said the rulers always tend to carry out the exercise of making policies for the future after some crisis hits the country. He gave an example of the inordinate delay in harnessing the rich coal deposits in Tharparkar district, saying the oil lobby delayed the coal utilization for 10 to 15 years. "If you had gone to coal early, the problem would not have exacerbated." He noted that the same neglect is being given to solar energy which is cheaper than the dams and nuclear energy.

The president explained that Pakistan sought financial support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), whom he described as the lender of last resort, because no friendly country or international financial institution was willing to help the country.

Speaking about the IT sector, the President said that at present no other sector except information technology has the potential to increase the country's exports by leaps and bounds.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2023.