“It was the best of the times, It was the worst of times, It was the age of wisdom, It was the age of foolishness, It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness”.— Charles Dicken, A Tale of Two Cities
Throughout his presidency, Arif Alvi lurched from one controversy to another, each more embarrassing than the last. Let’s revisit his stint as the President and see whether or not he fulfilled the obligations arising from his constitutional oath.
Pursuant to Article 41 of the Constitution, the head of the state is the President, who is to represent the unity of the Republic. The definitions of “the state” and “the republic” find mention in Articles 7 & 1. Read conjointly, he is to be the representative of not only the federal government, provincial governments, and local governments, but also all territorial parts of Pakistan. He is not to give the impression that he represents a sole political party or he comes from a certain city or a town. A delicate duty indeed! He is the fountainhead of power on paper. Constitutionally, the Prime Minister is to draw powers from him and to act in his name. The moment a President takes an oath, he is to move past his interests and prejudices, and shed his formal political affiliation(s), thus not causing disunity, discontent and alienation among people. Above all, in carrying out his duty, his conduct is to be beyond reproach.
Since Imran Khan was averse to attend National Assembly and the PTI was loathe to table the drafts of laws in the Parliament, the President’s power to issue ordinances under Article 89 of the Constitution was stretched to its limits, thereby short-circuiting the normal lawmaking process envisaged by the Constitution.
The President issued one ordinance after another. A two-member bench headed by Mr Justice Qazi Faez Isa disapproved of this practice and held that the presidential ordinances could only be promulgated in “emergent matters” and when Parliament was not in session.
The false, frivolous and vexatious reference against Mr Justice Qazi Faez Isa was conceived and cooked up by the former Law Minister, Farogh Naseem, with the connivance of the head of Asset Recovery Unit (ARU), Mirza Shahzad Akbar at the instance of the powers that be.
As if at Imran Khan’s beck and call, he spared no effort to bend the Constitution to Khan’s will. Lord Acton was right when he said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. It is high time that Arif Alvi tendered his resignation and rejoined his firm as a dentist again. Whoever steps into his shoes as the President is to be wary of repeating the same mistakes, lest he should be condemned to repeat history
Under Article 209 of the Constitution, the President is to first satisfy himself about the authenticity of the allegation(s) levelled at a judge and then to arrive at an informed opinion, before sending the reference to the Supreme Judicial Council. Alas, this wasn’t to be. Without the application of an independent mind and without realizing that it would open a can of worms for a fearlessly independent judge, Arif Alvi rubber-stamped the presidential reference, sending it to the Supreme Judicial Council.
However, Justice Qazi didn’t take things lying down. He petitioned the Supreme Court under Article 184(3), bringing the presidential reference under challenge. After months of hearing, the reference was ultimately quashed by the Supreme Court. However, the judgement left the sword of Damocles hanging over his family’s head. The Federal Board of Revenue was directed to initiate proceedings against his family under tax laws. Feeling dissatisfied, he and his wife filed review petitions before the Supreme Court , seeking to revisit the directions issued to the FBR Ultimately, the review was accepted by the full bench of the Supreme Court, declaring the directions illegal and per incuriam.
Now that Imran Khan was voted out of power and there was no love lost between him and the deep state, he made a clean breast of things, admitting that it was a mistake to file the reference and it was done upon the insistence of former Law Minister Farogh Naseem, who refused to share the blame and shifted it back on to Imran Khan. This begs the question, if it was a mere mistake on the part of Imran Khan, with whom the buck stops for putting Mr Justice Qazi and his family through the ordeal, leaving their reputation seriously undermined?
In November 2021, Dr. Awab Alvi, the President’s son, while acting at the behest of his family firm, Alvi Dental, entered into an agreement with an American dentist firm, Bringing Smiles, for a hefty sum of Rs. 4.4 billion. The signing ceremony took place in Sindh Governor House, while the President was in attendance. Later, the President was all praise for his son on his Twitter handle, setting tongues wagging about the blatant conflict of interest. At this juncture, suffice it to quote the relevant portion of the Presidential oath given in the Third Schedule to the Constitution: “I will not allow my personal interest to influence my official conduct or my official decisions.”
Arif Alvi as the President dissolved the National Assembly and to declare general elections at the advice of deposed Prime Minister, Imran Khan, knowing full well that going by Article 58 of the Constitution, it was not within the latter’s authority and power to do so, as he was facing a vote of no-confidence. Needless to emphasize, he wasn’t bound to follow the advice of the Prime Minister stemming from mala fides in fact and law. Under the first proviso to Article 48, he could at least ask the Prime Minister to reconsider such advice.
Yet another time, the President had to face humiliation for blindly following Imran Khan’s dictates when the Supreme Court declared null and void the ruling of the Deputy Speaker, as also the action of dissolution of the National Assembly and holding of general elections.
As if this were not disgraceful enough, Arif Alvi circumvented his presidential duties imposed upon him by the Constitution by feigning illness when he was to administer the oath to Shabaz Sharif and then to the new cabinet members. It was then Sadiq Sanjarani, the Senate Chairman who did the needful.
Last but not least, Arif Alvi honoured his constitutional oath more in the breach than the observance. As if at Imran Khan’s beck and call, he spared no effort to bend the Constitution to Khan’s will. Lord Acton was right when he said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. It is high time that Arif Alvi tendered his resignation and rejoined his firm as a dentist again. Whoever steps into his shoes as the President is to be wary of repeating the same mistakes, lest he should be condemned to repeat history.
