ISLAMABAD: Dr Arif ur Rehman Alvi took oath of office Sunday as the next president of Pakistan for a five-year term, completing the final phase of change of government in the country.
Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar administered oath of office to the new president at a simple ceremony here at the President House. The event was attended by Prime Minister Imran Khan, outgoing president Mamnoon Hussain, governors, chief ministers, speaker and deputy speaker of National Assembly, Senate chairman, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Saudi Information Minister Dr Awwad bin Saleh Al-Awwad, members of the federal cabinet, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee chairman and the three services chiefs, parliamentarians, judges of the Supreme Court, diplomats and a large number of people.
The ceremony began with the usual playing of the national anthem, followed by recitation of the last verse of Surah Bakra from the Holy Quran. The chief justice administered the oath of office to the new president in Urdu.
The oath documents were signed; national anthem played again and order of the assuming of the office of the president read out.
The president’s oath-taking was a jam-packed event at the President House, after the swearing-in of Imran Khan as the prime minister of Pakistan on August 18. Additional chairs had to be placed to accommodate the guests. President Mamnoon Hussain relinquished the charge of his office on September 8 at the end of his five-year term.
“Dr Arif Alvi has, on this 09th day of September 2018, taken the oath of office as the President and assumed the office of the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” a notification issued by the Cabinet Division to be published in the Gazette of Pakistan stated.
Dr Alvi, a dentist by profession and one of the founding members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), was elected to the office of president after securing 352 votes from the electoral college comprising both houses of the parliament and provincial assemblies in the presidential elections held on September 4.
Alvi, a close ally of Prime Minister Imran Khan, served as the PTI’s secretary general for eight years from 2006, and was elected an MP in the southern megacity of Karachi in 2013, winning re-election in the July 25 vote.
A father of four and an enthusiastic Twitter user, Alvi was shot at and wounded during a protest against military dictator Ayub Khan in Lahore in 1969. He still has a bullet embedded in his right arm.
Published in Daily Times, September 10th 2018.
