Arif Alvi takes oath as Pakistan's 13th president; Imran Khan, Qamar Javed Bajwa attend swearing-in ceremony

Islamabad: Arif Alvi, a close ally of Prime Minister Imran Khan and one of the founding members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was sworn in as Pakistan’s new president on Sunday. [caption id=“attachment_5116801” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Arif Alvi, Pakistan’s president-elect. AP[/caption] 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 and Army Chief General 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 (PPP) candidate Aitzaz Ahsan and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz  (PML-N) nominee Maulana Fazl ur Rehman in a three-way presidential contest. He 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. Alvi 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 PTI party. In 1969, Alvi was active in the student movement during Field Marshal Ayub Khan’s era. He was shot during a protest in Lahore and proudly carries a bullet in his right arm. In 1979, he was a Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) candidate for the provincial Assembly but elections did not take place. Alvi is one of the founding members of PTI. He served as PTI secretary general from 2006 to 2013. He won the National Assembly elections from NA-247 (Karachi) during the 25 July polls. He was also elected member of the National Assembly in the 2013 general election. 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. With his close ally Alvi as President, Khan can smoothly implement his agenda, according to observers.