President Arif Alvi has thrown the country into a tailspin by his claim that he had not assented to the bills amending the Official Secrets Act and the Army Act. The amending acts had duly been passed by the National Assembly and the Senate, and the media was full of the news that they had received the presidential assent, and had been signed into law. President Avi then tweeted that he had not given assent, and that his signature had been forged. He tweeted that he had told his staff that the bill was to be returned. This implies that his staff is not to be trusted, to the extent that it is capable of forwarding an un-assented bill for publication in the Gazette of Pakistan. The other eventuality is that the President himself is not being frank. It might be realized that the successive arrests of former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and former Planning Minister Asad Umar could attract the new laws, something which President Alvi would not have liked for his party chief, Mr Imran Khan.
Whatever the case, the President’s position is now untenable. There is no way he can continue with the same staff. A thorough investigation is required, and one that cannot be conducted by the Presidency itself, because its staff stands compromised, including the senior staff which would order this. The President should resign, but this should not stop the investigation. The acting President should not have to look over his shoulder to see if the staff is doing what it is told. The most appropriate body would be a parliamentary committee, but since the National Assembly is involved, a Senate committee would be best. This is especially appropriate because the Senate Chairman acts as President in his absence,
It also needs to be determined what is the status of those laws over which the controversy has been raised. It must be remembered that they were already controversial, both for the partisan reasons already mentioned, and because they could lead to the violation of fundamental rights. Can a President say, after it is widely disseminated that he has assented, he did not assent, and thus throw the bill from a published Act, back to a bill which will be deemed to have received assent after the passage of 10 days. It should not be forgotten that the President could not have prevented the passage of the laws, merely delayed it a little.
