Islamabad, Aug 20: In a dramatic turn of events, Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi denied on Sunday signing Official Secrets (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill, 2023, claiming that he was shocked to know that his staff “undermined” his orders and failed to return the unsigned bills within the stipulated time.
In the statement posted on his X account, President Alvi claimed to have instructed his staff to return the bills unsigned within the stipulated time to render them ineffective.
“As God is my witness, I did not sign Official Secrets Amendment Bill, 2023 and Pakistan Army Amendment Bill, 2023 as I disagreed with these laws,” said Alvi, who belonged to jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party before assuming the post.
“I asked my staff to return the bills unsigned within the stipulated time to make them ineffective. I confirmed from them many times whether they have been returned & was assured that they were. However, I have found out today that my staff undermined my will and command. As Allah knows all, He will forgive IA (InshaAllah). But I ask forgiveness…,” he added.
His statement comes a day after the local media reported that the president has signed the two bills.
The report of the bill completing the process to become law emerged as former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, also a close aide of Khan, was arrested under the Official Secrets Act in connection with the leakage of a confidential diplomatic cable last year.
There was no statement from the President’s House.
Addressing a press conference, Interim Law Minister Ahmad Irfan Aslam said that the bills have become laws after President Alvi failed to exercise either of the two options given in Article 75 of the constitution.
“He should have signed the bills into law or sent them back to the parliament with his observations and signatures within ten days. After he abstained from exercising the powers, the bills have become laws after the lapse of the ten-day deadline,” he said.
He said that the amended Army Act was sent to the office of the president on August 2 while the Secret Act was sent to his office on August 8. He said the president could have recorded his observation within ten days as he did on several previous occasions.
“It was for the time that the president took no action on the two bills and even refrained from recording his objections and allowed the ten days to pass,” he said. To a question, the law minister said that he has not witnessed such a situation in the past history of the country when the president raised an objection to a law by saying that he had not signed it or it became law after he rejected it. (PTI)
