PTI founder tasks Alvi with ‘important’ job
ISLAMABAD: After a prolonged hibernation following his exit from the presidency, former president and senior leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) Dr Arif Alvi has sprung into action and has been tasked by his chief, Imran Khan, with the hard job of mending fences with the powers that be.
A day earlier, he was present in a Lahore court to meet PTI leaders including Dr Yasmin Raashid, who had been detained in connection with the May 9, 2023 riots.
Next day, he met Imran in the Adiala jail Rawalpindi.
As the PTI failed to draw out large crowds across Pakistan to mark the first anniversary of the May 9 violence, Alvi was given an “important responsibility” by Imran to “resolve things” through dialogue apparently with the military establishment.
This was revealed by PTI leaders, including Alvi, National Assembly Opposition Leader Omar Ayub, and Raoof Hasan, outside Adiala Jail after their meeting with Imran in the prison.
The PTI did not share details of the “important” task Alvi was assigned, but the former president had made several attempts to bridge the chasm between Imran and the military establishment during his stint as the head of the state.
He told reporters that the dialogue would have to be held.
He, however, claimed that the political parties, part of the ruling coalition, had “no actual power.”
To a question about why the PTI wanted to talk to someone other than the ruling parties, the ex-president responded, “You people know who wields power” in Pakistan.
“These political parties are involved in the Form-47 [election manipulation] and have nothing to do with the government,” he said in an apparent reference to the coalition government.
Raoof Hasan said that the party would not talk to Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-pakistan (MQM-P) because they were the alleged beneficiaries of the purported mandate theft.
Alvi said he had tried to resolve things in the past and even now he was trying to do the same for the sake of the country.
Meanwhile, it was reported that the previous caretaker government’s report on May 9 riots says that evidence, shared with the cabinet committee which had probed the matter, shows that Imran “actively contributed” to the planning of the violent attacks on military installations a year back.