HYDERABAD: A day after he asked the Election Commission for a meeting on polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtun­khwa, President Arif Alvi said Consti­tution was “under attack” in the country and democracy would be the “first casualty” in case polls were postponed.

The president made these remarks while speaking to members of the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) at the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) auditorium at the invitation of HCCI president Adeel Siddiqui.

According to the president, whenever elections were postponed on any pretext in the country, democracy became the first casualty.

In an allusion to Gen Ziaul Haq, President Alvi said in the past, a dictator after usurping power had promised to hold polls within 90 days, but he ruled the country for a decade and also hanged a politician.

President blames ‘oil lobby’ for hampering development of alternative energy sources

During his address, Dr Alvi did not hold back while talking about political parties and pillars of the state and blamed their below the par performance for the woes faced by Pakistan. He said rooms were filled with ‘reforms files’ but those, including four pillars of the state, supposed to ensure these reforms lack “impressive track record”.

According to the president, the performance of judiciary in the wake of Justice Munir’s case was not good at all. “We are paying a $10bn fine in the Reko Diq case for nothing,” he said in a reference to a Supreme Court judgement. The same goes for parliament and the executive because what happened on the issue of NAB amendments was before everyone, Dr Alvi said and added that all pillars of the state were somewhat rotten.

Answering a question put to him by Dawn about letter written by former premier Imran Khan to seek inquiry against former army chief for violating his oath, president replied that “I am looking into it and thinking what can be done. In Pakistani constitution president does not have executive powers. He can be involved in consultation”.

‘Small egos’

While responding to the HCCI president’s charter of economy proposal for consistent economic policies to overcome the challenges, President Alvi said it was difficult to make people sit at one table for talks due to their egos. “Nobody wants to talk,” he said and added that his overtures for an across-the-board dialogue got “evasive replies” despite the fact that the “country was sinking”. “There is grave polarisation [in the country] but as you [HCCI president] have suggested I am still trying to find a solution,” he said.

The president said people from almost every district in the country were seen talking about neglect and lack of development in their areas. He said there was a lack of commitment to resolving the problems amid a worst economic crisis.

Speaking about the conditions announced by the IMF in return for the disbursement of the tranche, President Alvi said, “The International Monetary Fund is doing what other banks do with businessmen for loans and mortgages. A lender will always want their money back.”

“The IMF is approached [for help] as it tries to enforce a discipline so that friendly countries and commercial banks are able to offer loans to the government after seeing some commitments that would be honoured,” he said.

The president also talked about the ‘oil lobby’ for hampering the development of alternate energy resources and said that he “personally knows” that the use of solar panels and coal was discouraged by this lobby. He added had coal been used as a primary fuel in power generation, Pakistan would not have been facing the trouble that it was currently in.

Discussing food security, the president referred to The Netherlands which was “16 times smaller than Pakistan but the second biggest food exporter in the world”. This country doesn’t have outstanding technology and only works with vertical and hydroponic farms, he added.

He said the IT industry was the fastest growing industry in Pakistan with exports of $3.5 billion and in the next few years it would be $15bn-$20bn regardless of the government measures.

He said information technology was the only industry that facilitated women and provided them with opportunities, such as work from home. He emphasised the need for producing quality human resources because the future “belongs to human resources, not natural resources”. The president added that India produced 9m IT experts compared to a mere 26,000 in Pakistan.

He regretted Pakistan’s primary enrolment was 68pc as compared to India where school enrolment was 100pc. “With this enrolment, we will be producing talent fitted for odd jobs,” he added.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2023