President Alvi calls on politicians to end growing polarisation in the country & decide on an election date by coming together
ISLAMABAD, Oct 06 (SABAH): President Dr. Arif Alvi, in an address to the joint session of the Parliament on Thursday, called on politicians to end growing polarisation in the country and decide on an election date by coming together.
“People can only be united if politicians are united,” he said, highlighting that eliminating differences was the “need of the hour”.
The joint session of the parliament on Thursday was called in line with articles 54(1) and 56(3) of the Constitution. The session was sparsely attended, with the majority of MNAs and Senators missing from both benches. Those in attendance were seen freely mingling and talking amongst one another while the president was speaking.
Meanwhile, Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan chanted slogans calling for MNA Ali Wazir’s production orders to be issued, even as the president continued speaking. He later staged a protest in front of the NA speaker’s rostrum with Senator Tahir Bizenjo and MNA MNA Moulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali.
At the outset of his address on Thursday, President Dr. Arif Alvi expressed that the biggest problem Pakistan was facing today were the catastrophic floods that wreaked havoc across the country and rendered millions homeless.
“I want to felicitate the Pakistan Army for helping victims while sacrificing their lives. The federal and provincial governments, PDMA (Provincial Disaster Management Authority), and NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority) all worked hard on the ground. I thank all of them.” He expressed satisfaction over the international focus on the floods in Pakistan, saying the UN Secretary General visited Pakistan to see the ground situation.
Referring to the losses inflicted by floods on the agriculture sector, the President suggested a crop insurance scheme for the farmers to compensate for their losses.
Dr. Arif Alvi pointed out that if the relief work was not done on time, the human and economic losses from the floods would have been higher.
Pakistan’s contribution to global warming was not even 1 per cent, but the country was suffering the most, he said. “I want to commend agencies and the government for the way they worked. I believe they deserve commendation.”
The president said that the disastrous floods had damaged crops spread over acres and underscored the need for crop insurance.
“Agriculture is our economic backbone. We must look towards countries that are progressing in this sector.
“The Netherlands is 19 times smaller than Pakistan but it progressed so much on the agricultural front, and my country should have progressed more in this field. If we adopt a scientific approach, Pakistan can beat the world,” he stated.
Dr. Arif Alvi also said that the recent floods had, once again, raised the demand for building dams.
Talking about foreign affairs in his speech, President Dr. Arif Alvi lauded the government for improving ties with the United States, saying that the country had been a “good friend” to Pakistan.
“We have seen ups and downs but the US is a big market for our goods. We want to improve ties on mutual understanding. The government is striving for it and I commend this.”
Dr. Arif Alvi also underscored the importance of Pakistan’s ties with China. “I believe the Pakistan-China friendship is a real one and CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) is an example of it.”
The president went on that Pakistan’s stance on Ukraine was clear and the country expected ties with Europe to strengthen.
Talking about Afghanistan, he said: “We have a clear position that we want peace there. Taliban have promised that their soil will not be used against terrorism and we expect everyone to keep their word.”
Dr. Arif Alvi went on that Pakistan wanted a “broad-based government” in the neighbouring country.
The President stressed for resolution of Kashmir dispute in line with United Nations Security Council Resolutions. He said Pakistan will always stand with their Kashmiri brothers and sisters. He said Pakistan wants good relations with India but it will have to end its persecution campaign in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and move towards resolution of this lingering dispute. “We believe Hindutva mindset and Islamophobia are being exported and I want India to not do this because it has an impact.”
President Alvi, while talking about the economy, stressed the maintenance of balance. “Pakistan should stand on its feet. We need hard work. We don’t have oil reserves, but we have land and gold. We need to stand up. We reached a growth of up to 5.9pc and it shows we have capacity.”
The president also highlighted on political stability and urged the government to work harder to contain inflation. He said the dollar-rupee parity was worrisome but hoped that it would soon be tackled.
“Every chamber I speak to demand continuation in policies. Even if the governments change, policies should continue,” Dr. Arif Alvi added. The president highlighted that the entire world was upset with fake news.
Referring to the recent audio leaks, he said that private conversations should not be made available out in the public and they should stay “where they belong”.
Talking about the freedom of media, the president underlined that it was an important part of the freedom of democracy. “I want to bring this to the government’s attention because it is extremely important.”
He also said that social media was booming and this should be used as a source of knowledge. “These things won’t be fixed through force. We just need to be careful about it.”
At one point during his address, the president also called for the continuation of the work on electronic voting machines (EVM). “I believe we should work on this and not delay it.”
He said that people claim the last free and fair elections in the country were held in 1970, adding that most of the people didn’t trust the election results. “How would stability come when you keep challenging all election results?”
He further demanded that overseas Pakistanis — who he said send $30 billion to the country— should be given their voting rights.
“Of all these people, only 5-10pc are dual nationals. The parliament and Supreme Court have also recommended giving them voting rights. You should ensure no cheating takes place, and this right has to be given.”
Bringing the parliament’s attention towards education, Dr. Arif Alvi warned against neglecting the youth as he called for the inclusion of children who were out of school. “Members of parliament must focus on this.
“I have spoken to ulema that mosques should have sessions to provide school education. If you can’t provide education to children, give them skills,” he highlighted.
The president said that online education could be used for infusing knowledge among the youth. “There are good education institutions that can help in this initiative.”
Pakistan also needed to build a mechanism to provide employment to the people, he added.
In the field of science and technology, Alvi stressed that children needed to be prepared for the future. “Several smaller countries are ahead of Pakistan in cyber power while our policies are weak in this respect.”
Our defence establishment needed cyber power to protect the utilities and financial institutions, he said, adding that in the future, wars would be fought in the cyber world, hence, Pakistan needed to focus on that.
Moving to the health sector, President Dr. Arif Alvi emphasised the provision of contraceptives, saying that when economies improved, family sizes shrunk. Also, stunting was another problem Pakistan was facing.
Furthermore, he appreciated the Benazir Income Support Programme and Ehsaas Poverty Alleviation Programme for their performance. He also thanked the Bill Gates Foundation for its polio eradication efforts in the country.
During his speech, Dr. Arif Alvi particularly highlighted the importance of curing diseases linked to mental illnesses stressing that there were society’s “silent killers”.
“We need to make cures affordable and increase the number of medical practitioners. We need to raise awareness about telehealth helplines and educate the poor segments of our society regarding it.”
Moreover, the president said that women should be given chances to work in public offices and urged lawmakers to work on eliminating harassment.
Referring to the importance of the cyber world, he said that we need to improve our policies in this regard to ensure cyber security of important institutions.
Arif Alvi said Saudi Arabia has always stood by Pakistan in difficult times. He said every Pakistani is also ready for the protection of Haramain Sharifain. He also highlighted Pakistan’s strong bonds with United Arab Emirates and Turkey. He was confident that Pakistan will soon come out of the FATF.
Meanwhile President Dr. Arif Alvi has said that 50 thousand precious lives could be saved every year by creating awareness regarding self-examination and early diagnoses of breast cancer in the country. He said that in Pakistan every year 100,000 women were affected by breast cancer and many lost their lives due to the lack of awareness and education.
The President said this while addressing the media persons during an interaction regarding October being the breast cancer awareness month, at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Thursday.
The President said that unfortunately due to the lack of awareness regarding the deadly breast cancer, the women neither carry out their self-examination nor seek medical advice after observing unusual growth in the body, resultantly cancer spreads to other parts of body and becomes un-curable. He said that social taboos also played a significant role in the high mortality rate due to this disease in the country, as most of the time women were reluctant to talk about this disease with their family members and usually did not consult with medical practitioners.
He said that if breast cancer was diagnosed at an early stage, there was a 98% chance of a complete cure, enabling the person to live a normal and healthy life. However, the chances of cure decreased proportionally as the disease spread to the entire breast or to the other parts of the body. He said that Pakistan had limited healthcare facilities and resources to handle the treatment of the patients who had been diagnosed at the later stages, so the best way out was the early diagnosis of breast cancer.
The President emphasized that all possible steps should be taken to empower the women in the country, they must be provided equal opportunities for employment, seeking loans and starting their own businesses and they should be given their rightful share in the inheritance. He said that it would not only empower the women financially but also enable them to take necessary decisions with confidence to take care of their health and seek health advice whenever it is required.
The President highlighted that the status of awareness regarding breast cancer had improved significantly due to the campaign headed by Mrs Samina Arif Alvi. He said that Mrs Alvi has also drawn a comprehensive plan of action for the entire year wherein the awareness regarding the disease will be spread through organizing events, installing standees in the shops, malls and other business centres, distribution of brochures and pamphlets and utilizing health workers at the grassroots levels in towns, villages and rural areas to impart awareness regarding self-examination for the early diagnosis of the disease.
The President said that he himself had written letters to the Prime Minister, Ministers, Parliamentarians, the business community and media owners to become partners in the breast cancer awareness campaign in order to save the precious lives of our women. He said that the country is also facing acute problems of malnutrition in women and stunting in children. He added that the first 1000 days in the life of a newborn child and mother were very important, during this period women should be provided with necessary food supplements to not only ensure their own health but also of the newborn
The President also underlined the need for reducing the stress level in society, which had serious implications on overall health. He said that unfortunately, 24% of our population was suffering from mental stress while its rate in students is 60 to 80%. He said that by adopting simple healthy practices like regular exercise, a balanced diet and avoiding smoking the level of stress could be reduced and the risk of contracting diseases like breast cancer could be minimized.
The President said that the role of media in creating awareness was of paramount importance as it provided an excellent, fast and effective medium for transmitting messages to the general public and creating awareness on adopting a healthy lifestyle. He said that spreading the messages of early diagnoses and self-examination in schools, colleges and universities was also very important because educated youth could easily communicate the said message to their families, friends and society.
Speaking on the occasion, Mrs Samina Arif Alvi said that if breast cancer was diagnosed at the first stage, 98% of lives could be saved without any complication. She said that however, the mortality rate increased as breast cancer entered 3rd and 4th stage. She said that we should take all possible measures to create awareness among our female population regarding self-examination and early diagnoses to keep our mother healthy, which would lead to a healthy family and country.
Earlier, Dr Fauzia Abdus Samad, in her presentation emphasized the need for self-examination to diagnose the disease at the early stage so that it could be treated without any significant complication and expenditure and the patient could live a healthy life.
The interactive session was attended by a number of renowned media persons who asked questions regarding breast cancer.