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| President Arif Alvi's tweet is 'the whistle of a pressure cooker which was opened by seeing an opportunity |
President of Pakistan Arif Alvi, facing demands for his resignation from the opponents, today removed his secretary Waqar Ahmed from this post and returned his services.
After his staff was accused of insubordination, the president returned the services of his secretary to the Establishment Division and said he "no longer needed" the services of Waqar Ahmed.
The controversy surrounding the Official Secrets Amendment Bill 2023 and the Pakistan Army Amendment Bill 2023 intensified when President Dr. Arif Alvi refused to sign these bills approved by the Senate and the National Assembly.
Although the President does not agree with these bills, but according to the caretaker government, they have become law as no action is taken by the President.
In the opinion of observers, this dispute is a new link in the ongoing political crisis in the country, especially in the context that Tehreek-e-Insaf deputy chief and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi have been arrested in the cipher case under the laws related to official secrets.
How did we get here?
The dispute is over not one but two bills: the Pakistan Army Amendment Bill and the Official Secrets Amendment Bill.
Pakistan's Senate and National Assembly unanimously passed a bill amending the Army Act, 1952, in separate sessions, which provides that any person who obtains information obtained in an official capacity, which is disclosed or causes to be disclosed, which may be harmful to the interest and security, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years.
It also proposes that an army officer who has been in service holding a post which falls under the Army Act and which is declared 'sensitive' should complete five years of his retirement, or resignation, or dismissal. Cannot participate in political activities until
On the other hand, in the Official Secrets Amendment Bill, it was proposed that it would be an offense to reveal the identity of officials, informers, or sources of intelligence agencies against law and order, security, interest, and defense.
These bills were sent to the President after approval. The then Prime Minister of Law Nazir Tarar had said that in the Official Secrets Amendment Bill, the provision of arresting citizens without a warrant by intelligence agencies has been deleted.
However, after this new conflict, the political heat has increased in Pakistan since the last day. On the one hand, President Arif Alvi is demanding an inquiry to punish the officers involved, on the other hand, the role of President Arif Alvi in this matter is being viewed with suspicion.
After his statement, several political parties, especially the PDM alliance, have also demanded his resignation.
Former finance minister and PML-N leader Ishaq Dar said in a message on Twitter that President Arif Alvi will have to "give written or recorded evidence of sending back the bill with objections." The moral requirement is that Arif Alvi should resign because he has proved to be unable to run his office.
He also said that the purpose of such statements is just to garner support. Many other politicians and analysts also share the same opinion.
Did the president show courage or malice by tweeting from his personal account?
There are two different opinions in the country on the President's conduct, but his opponents are demanding his resignation.
Pakistan People's Party leader Sahar Kamran while talking to BBC said that the sanctity of Pakistan's highest office is being questioned.
She says that it is not that the president did not know the procedure. In the last five years, he has signed many bills and sent back many of them with objections. They see they observe, and they evaluate them.
In his opinion, the President knew which bill had come and which he had to send back, but he kept silent. Although the news came to the media in Pakistan that the bill has become law, they remained silent even after that.
She says that "24 hours later, instead of taking any action against his staff, the president came on social media and issued a statement. The country was laughed at and it was also proved that he is an ineffective president who cannot exercise his authority.
Sahar Kamran believes that President Arif Alvi should resign over the issue as his 'delay and hiding his opinion against the bill for several days is evidence of malice.'
According to him, President Arif Alvi actually wanted to score political points from all this controversy. "I think he has been pressured by the political party or he has done this to keep himself relevant in the politics of his party."
Speaking to BBC about this, former senator of Muslim League-N, Lt. Gen. Retired Abdul Qayyum said that in the current political era of Pakistan, both PDM and PTI are scoring political points.
He says that Pakistan is in a transition phase. Imran Khan's party thinks that he is very powerful today. On the other hand, the PDM alliance believes that there will not be any party in the upcoming elections that can form the government by getting the majority of votes, that is why they are so strong that they will form the coalition government in the future.
According to Abdul Qayyum, it should have been that when the bill became law on the same day, the President would have asked how this could happen when I did not sign it. But making noise after the delay is unreasonable. Now the political parties will further exploit this situation.
He says that now the parties are asking him to resign because all this matter has happened due to the 'inefficiency' of the President himself.
"The president of a country, the head of state, who has not severed ties with his party and is creating chaos in the country, is accepting his mistake that his subordinates have disobeyed his orders, so big. After sitting in office and after all this, he should resign and I think only then will this matter have an impact. Otherwise, it is just noise.
But the leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf do not agree with him. Speaking to the BBC, the spokesperson of Imran Khan's party, Zulfi Bukhari, said that there is no need for the president to leave office. Our party fully supports President Alvi and his stand that he will not sign any controversial bill. It suits the ambitions and agenda of PDM that President Arif Alvi resigns.
Similarly, PTI spokesperson Rauf Hassan points to the powerful military circles and establishment of Pakistan and says that this incident has proved who is actually running the government in the country.
He says that it has now come to light who is in control of the state. His staff in the President's office is disobeying his orders. After returning the services of the Secretary to the President today, we do not know what further steps the President will take. But we, as PTI, are taking this matter to the Supreme Court. What a spectacle is happening.
He said that the constitution says that when the bill is returned to the president for the second time after discussion in the joint session of the parliament, then in the absence of a signature, the bill will become law. Nothing like that happened here.
He said that there will be no compromise, no resignation. President Arif Ali will take the lead in ushering in a constitutional and democratic system in Pakistan.
"There should be an inquiry against the staff"
On the other hand, senior journalist Asma Shirazi believes that President Arif Alvi will not resign and in her opinion, this is not a big reason for him to resign.
She says that political parties keep making such demands. The President has the discretion to resign or not. But I don't think so, this demand of the political parties is in its place, but I don't think that the President of Pakistan will resign on this or he should resign on this issue.
However, she also criticizes the President's tweet and his course of action on the 'controversial and inhumane' Bills issue. In their opinion, an unnecessary conflict has been created in the already crisis-ridden country.
According to him, the first question is why the President took so long, and why did he feel the need to create this controversy after a certain period of time. It is just like putting something on the tail and blowing its whistle when the time comes. It is the whistle of the pressure cooker that has been opened when the time has come.'
Referring to the past, she explains President Arif Alvi's general procedure for approving or disapproving any bill, stating that he used to write objections in the past, and often made statements on social media. This time it seems that the political objectives have been achieved. It was an important and controversial bill, the bill was passed, his later note also came and he also became a hero.
Asma Shirazi says that if President Arif Alvi was truly in favor of stopping this bill, he could have openly taken a stand on the matter, but now this is an attempt to get back at him in PTI and it seems so. That in the future, while his party is under pressure, he wants an important place for himself.
"If they really wanted to stop it, they would have stopped it as effectively as any inhumane law," he says. And at that time he would take a position on this issue. It would have been a simple process and if the National Assembly was not there it could easily have been ineffective.
On the other hand, it is also being demanded that action should be taken against those staff members whom the President of the State considers responsible for any omission. The Presidency has already returned the services of the Secretary to the President, currently the most senior bureaucratic position in the Presidency.
Former senator Lieutenant General (retd) Abdul Qayyum says that in this case, if the President of Pakistan himself is responsible for any omission and omission, then he is also responsible. But if any of their staff has been negligent, or knowingly wronged, they should not only be investigated. Rather, it is a serious offense and the staff concerned may be punished for it.
On the other hand, the President's House did not respond to the BBC's inquiry whether a formal inquiry had been launched or not.