PML-N-led govt plans impeachment of Pakistan President Arif Alvi

PML-N led govt in Pakistan has announced plans to impeach President Arif Alvi, who recently emerged as a major obstacle to the smooth sailing of the new govt

The PML-N led government in Pakistan 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 Pak Punjab Chief Minister-elect Hamza Shehbaz Sharif's oath-taking among other things, Samaa TV reported.

The possibility of impeachment was first raised by Pak 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 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 the 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, experts claim that the resignations were not given in handwriting as the rules required and may be rejected by the ECP.

--IANS

san/dpb