ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Sunday said he enjoyed a working relationship with the government as he and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif respected each other.

“I enjoyed a working relationship with the incumbent federal government. I and the prime minister respect each other’s offices,” the president said while expressing his views in a short documentary about the one-year (2022) performance of Aiwan-i-Sadr.

He, however, said that different pieces of legislation had been sent to his office by the government for signing, but sometimes he sent back unsigned certain pieces of legislation after due consideration.

President Alvi belongs to the main opposition party, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), and he has remained under criticism of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government for his alleged “lopsided approach to favour PTI”.

The president claimed that he had remained a distinct figure during the year 2022 owing to his pursuits of social, moral, educational and political reforms, reminding society to adapt to latest developments in the field of science and technology, while shunning differences to steer the country out of current challenges in different areas.

In the documentary, President Alvi also expressed his views on the ongoing campaigns about breast cancer, women’s rights, rights of persons with disabilities, revolution in the information technology industry and the political situation in the country.

After the change of the government, the president claimed, he tried to steer the country out of the crisis of polarisation, lack of dialogue for the future and the mandate issue which had become critical.

Referring to recent floods in the country, the president said the climate-induced floods had caused widespread devastation in the country as vast chunks of land spreading over hundreds of kilometres in Balochistan and Sindh provinces had been under floodwater, forcing the people to migrate to safe places. He said the country had suffered huge losses to the tune of billions of dollars due to the tragedy.

The world support in this regard was not sufficient, he said, adding a donors’ conference was being held in Geneva, and expressed the hope that it would have positive outcome for the country.

The president also thanked those countries, institutions, NGOs and civilian and military organisations which supported the flood relief activities in the country.

Talking about women’s rights, President Alvi firmly supported women’s inheritance rights and advocated for female skill development in different technical fields.

The president said that it was the responsibility of society to provide a harassment-free environment to women.

He said the Founder of the Nation, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had also stressed the need for empowering women for progress and development of the country.

Published in Dawn, january 2th, 2023