Islamabad: Arif Alvi, a close ally of Prime Minister Imran Khan and one of the founding members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, was sworn in as Pakistan’s new president Sunday.
The 69-year-old dentist was administered the oath of office as Pakistan’s 13th President by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar at a simple ceremony held at the Aiwan-e-Sadr (the President House).
The oath-taking ceremony was attended by top civil-military brass including Prime Minister Khan and Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Saudi Information Minister Awwad Bin Saleh Al Awwad were also present at the event.
Dr Alvi had defeated Pakistan Peoples Party candidate Aitzaz Ahsan and the Pakistan Muslim League-N nominee Maulana Fazlur Rehman in a three-way presidential contest. In Pakistan, the President is considered as a symbol of the federation and head of the state and exercises all powers on the recommendations of the prime minister. Alvi belongs to Karachi and comes from a family that migrated to Pakistan after partition.
His predecessors Mamnoon Hussain’s family came from Agra and Pervez Musharraf’s parents migrated from New Delhi. He shares an interesting connection with India as his father Dr Habib ur Rehman Elahi Alvi was a dentist to India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, according to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
Alvi started his political career about five decades ago when he was a student of de’Montmonrency College of Dentistry, an affiliate of University of Punjab in Lahore. He was part of the students’ wing of Jamaat-i-Islami (JIH) and protested against military ruler Ayub Khan.
“During one of the protests on the Mall Road in Lahore, he was shot at and wounded, and still proudly carries a bullet embedded in his right arm as a mark of his struggle for democracy in Pakistan,” according to the PTI website.
He participated in elections from the JIH in 1979 but lost. Later he became disillusioned with the politics of the JIH and joined the PTI as one of its founding members in 1996. (PTI)
