The veteran parliamentarian comes down hard on Imran Khan’s nominee to the presidency over his failure to attend the funeral of the martyrs of Balochistan chopper crash.
By Naveed Naqvi
ISLAMABAD: Former Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani Saturday called on President Arif Alvi to resign over the latter’s failure to attend the funeral of the military personnel martyred in the recent helicopter crash in Balochistan.
“The officers martyred in the crash constitute the highest echelons of the Army Command”, the veteran Senator said in a statement. “The failure of the President to perform his duties and functions is regrettable.”
Earlier, on August 2, the nation was aghast by disrespectful comments made by some social media users aligned with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) after an army helicopter on a flood relief mission went missing in Balochistan.
Conspicuously, the party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, to which Alvi belong, did not issue the offending social media accounts a shut up call. Nor did they themselves showed remorse over their disgraceful conduct even after the news broke that the helicopter, carrying six army personnel including two generals, had crashed.
The generals martyred in the crash were Commander 12 Corps Lt-Gen Sarfraz Ali and DG Pakistan Coast Guard Maj-Gen Amjad.
Alvi’s absence from the martyrs’ funeral on August 3 was a sharply felt across media and political circles, although nobody agitated the matter much at the time.
It was whispered at the time that he had been politely told off by the authorities in view of the hurt the disrespectful comments had caused the families of the martyrs.
A senior parliamentarian, Rabbani noted in his statement that the supreme command of the armed forces vests in the President of Pakistan under Article 243(2) of the Constitution.
He argued that the supreme commander not attending the funeral of the martyrs was a matter of deep concern.
If Alvi is unable to perform his functions as the supreme commander by reason of his political affiliation – which he should have shed when he assumed this office – he should immediately resign, said Rabbani, a stalwart of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) who is widely respected for his services for democracy.
A recipient of Nishan-e-Imtiaz, one of Pakistan’s highest civilian decorations awarded for outstanding service to the nation, Rabbani is particularly highly regarded for spearheading the drafting and passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution on the watch of President Asif Ali Zardari.
The Amendment removed many of the distortions introduced into the Constitution by the dictatorial regime of Gen Zia ul Haq, and restored the democratic character of the Constitution.
Rabbani noted with regret that the incumbent president continues to be a worker of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s PTI party, and has failed to grow into the office of the president of Pakistan.
“This is not the first time the incumbent Presidents political affiliations have stood in the way of his Presidential duties and functions”, said Rabbani.
He then enumerated the following five instances when, in his opinion, Alvi had acted contrary to the law.
“1. The Presidency obstructed Parliament from performing its function of legislation by the more the excessive use of Article 89, Constitution, 1973. (Ordinances).
“2. Violated the will of Parliament by re promulgation of the PMDC Ordinance which had been disapproved by the Senate under Article 89, Constitution, 1973.
“3. Acted on advice not in accordance with law, in the appointment of heads of various institutions, which were set aside by Courts of law.
“4. Sent ill advice References under Article 209, Constitution, 1973, against Judges of the superior courts, which were set aside by the Courts.
“5. Issued a Notification of a Member of the NFC from Balochistan which was set aside. 6. Dissolved the National Assembly on the advice of a Prime Minister who was suffering from a disqualification under Article 95, Constitution, 1973.”
Senator Mian Raza Rabbani concluded by saying this was just the tip of the iceberg, implying he had more material on the unpresidential conduct on Imran Khan’s nominee to Pakistan’s presidency.
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
