Dr Arif Alvi was sworn in as the 13th President of Pakistan at a ceremony at Aiwan-i-Sadr in Islamabad on Sunday, a day after outgoing president Mamnoon Hussain's five-year term ended.

The ceremony, which began after 1pm, commenced with the playing of the national anthem, followed by a recitation from the Holy Quran.

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar administered oath to Alvi, a senior Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader who was elected to the National Assembly from Karachi's NA-247 constituency during the July 25 polls.

As per the 1973 Constitution, Alvi's election to the NA seat will stand null and void once he takes oath as President of Pakistan, since an elected member of Parliament cannot hold the office of head of state.

Top civil and military leadership, including members of the federal cabinet, the three services chiefs, parliamentarians, justices of the Supreme Court, diplomats and other well-known personalities and foreign officials were in attendance at the ceremony.

Among them were Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Finance Minister Asad Umar, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, NA Speaker Asad Qaiser, Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Shah, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan, Chief of Naval Staff Zafar Mahmood Abbasi, and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Zubair Hayat.

Source: DAWN

BDST: 1043 HRS, SEP 10, 2018

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