Following the observations of Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa against President Arif Alvi in the election delay case, Senator Ishaq Dar, a senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and a former finance minister, has called on Alvi to resign from office.
While giving an interview to a private news channel, Dar said, "It would be suitable for the president to step down voluntarily."
Dar apparently alluded to the chief justice’s recent statements that President Alvi broke the Constitution by failing to announce the date of the general elections.
During the hearing of a series of petitions last week seeking for timely elections to be held within ninety days of the assembly's dissolution, the chief justice made these statements.
Dar said, "It would be preferable if the president resigned voluntarily in light of the Supreme Court's remarks."
Regarding the general elections that are scheduled for February 8 of next year, the former finance minister expressed concern that the delimitation of seats may cause the polls to be postponed until the end of February.
On the other hand, he said that the process of drawing new borders was expedited by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Senator Dar urged that a truth and reconciliation committee be established to gather the facts, claiming that the establishment had previously assisted the leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
"If the PML-N wins [the next elections], I will demand the creation of a truth and reconciliation commission," he said.
He continued by saying that no party in the country has carried out as much development work as the PML-N and that the country's economy could not be stabilized in the course of a 16-month coalition government led by the PML-N.
He said that by saving the economy from default, the PDM government prevented Pakistan from becoming like Sri Lanka. According to Dar, "some international forces also wanted Pakistan to default."
In response to a query on the electoral alliance, Dar said that forming a coalition with any political party would not be possible. He did say that seat-to-seat adjustments are feasible, though. "With the PPP, seat adjustments are also possible."