LAHORE
\nPresident Arif Alvi Friday stressed against making the Pakistan Army \u201ccontroversial\u201d after the armed forces were criticised by PTI leader Shahbaz Gill. \u201cTime and again, I have been telling politicians to not bring the armed forces under discussion,\u201d the president told journalists in Lahore.
\nThe president stressed that the armed forces are responsible for the country\u2019s security and in light of their role, politicians should refrain from making the institution controversial.
\n\u201cIt was the armed forces\u2019 job to win the battle against terrorism; they should be respected,\u201d President Alvi said. PTI Chairman Imran Khan\u2019s chief of staff, Gill, was arrested Tuesday from Bani Gali Chowk after his remarks on a private television channel went viral on social media.
\nGill has been charged under serious sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) after he had attempted to incite hatred within the Pakistan Army while speaking on a private TV channel.
\nThe president noted that he was the constitutional head of all the country\u2019s institutions, and he respects all of them.
\n\u201cThere are talks of the appointment of the army chief and judges. For the judiciary, the chief justice has stated that there should be a standard; I agree with him,\u201d the president said.
\nCJP Umar Ata Bandial had recently proposed the names of five judges in the last Judicial Commission of Pakistan\u2019s (JCP) meeting, however, they were rejected altogether \u2014 and controversy has emerged since then.
\n\u2018Caught\u2019 in \u2018foreign funding case\u2019
\nMoving on to the prohibited funding case, the president said that the PTI was \u201ccaught in the foreign funding case\u201d as they kept records of their accounts.
\nThe president, explaining the funding received from abroad, said that under United States laws, if a party wants to collect funds, it has to establish a company.
\n\u201c[The ECP], however, claimed that a \u2018company\u2019 sent us funds, whereas, it were those companies which we established in line with the US and Canadian laws,\u201d he said.
\nIn a unanimous ruling, the election commission\u2019s three-member bench had said earlier this month it found that the PTI received prohibited funding.
\nThe case was earlier referred to as the \u201cforeign funding\u201d case, but later the election commission accepted the PTI\u2019s plea to refer to it as the \u201cprohibited funding\u201d case.
\nAs per the 68-page order, the commission states that the Imran Khan-led PTI did indeed receive funding from foreign companies and individuals, which it hid.
\nThe ECP verdict states that the PTI received funds from 34 individuals and 351 businesses, including companies.
\nThirteen unknown accounts have also come to light, said the commission in the verdict, adding that hiding accounts are a \u201cviolation\u201d of Article 17 of the Constitution.
\n\u2018Worried\u2019 due to increasing polarisation
\nhe president, addressing all stakeholders of the country, said that the situation \u201cwas not ideal\u201d and that it was crucial for politicians to sit at the talking table.
\n\u201cPoliticians are not sitting together at the talking table; they have to unite. If I don\u2019t see the situation getting better, I will ask them to sit at the table. As the president, I can only ask, not order,\u201d Alvi noted.
\nPresident Alvi said he was \u201cworried\u201d that the polarisation was increasing and noted that it had to end in the coming days. \u201cOf course, politicians are not students that we\u2019ll ask them to sit in a classroom forcefully.\u201d
\nHe also said that there was an issue of mismanagement in Pakistan and he told the same to the party chairman, Khan. However, he said that the former prime minister had his own stance.
\nThe president said that he has only rejected four or five of the summaries that the current coalition government has sent him out of the total 85.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAHORE President Arif Alvi Friday stressed against making the Pakistan Army \u201ccontroversial\u201d after the armed forces were criticised by PTI leader Shahbaz Gill. \u201cTime and again, I have been telling politicians to not bring the armed forces under discussion,\u201d the president told journalists in Lahore. The president stressed that the armed forces are responsible for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10076,2551,1218],"class_list":{"0":"post-276938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-controversial","9":"tag-pakistan-army","10":"tag-president-alvi"},"yoast_head":"\n