PML-N plans impeachment of President Alvi

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 06 Jan 2023

The PML-N-led government has announced plans to impeach President Arif Alvi, who has recently emerged as a major obstacle to the smooth sailing of the new government and blocked Punjab Chief Minister-elect Hamza Shehbaz Sharif’s oath-taking among other things.

The possibility of impeachment was first raised by Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and then elaborated by Senator Afnanullah Khan.

Aurangzeb said that Alvi must know that he is the president of Pakistan and not the PTI. “If he wants to indulge in politics, he must leave the office” of the president, she said at her press conference. 

Under the Constitution of Pakistan, the president could be impeached only by the two-thirds majority of the joint session of the National Assembly and Senate.  

Later, PML-N’s Senator Afnanullah said that a total of 290 votes in a joint session were required to remove the president, and all parties in the ruling coalition have only 265 votes 25 short of the required number.

Afnanullah, who was speaking he said that the ruling coalition will reach out to dissident PTI members to remove Arif Alvi, who he said has become PTI’s president.

Imran Khan last week announced that PTI would withdraw all its lawmakers from the National Assembly. Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, from the PTI, accepted the resignations of 123 PTI members. However, expert claims that the resignations were not given in handwriting as the rules required and may be rejected by the ECP. 

Afnanullah said that the government would address the concerns raised by BNP, which refused to join the federal cabinet on Tuesday in protest against the Chagi incident. Over the weekend, FC personnel shot and wounded several protesters in Balochistan’s Chagi.

The PML-N senator also said that the Sindh governor will be appointed after consultation with PPP and MQM-P.