Bilawal demands President Alvi impeached immediately

• Bilawal demands President Alvi be removed from his office. 
• Says Alvi was complicit in sabotaging a no-confidence motion against Imran Khan while he was the PM. 
• Asks the government to initiate the President's impeachment as soon as possible. 

Chairman PPP and Foreign Minister Bilawal Zardari Bhutto late on Thursday night said President Dr Arif Alvi should be removed from his office for unconstitutionally trying to block the no-trust motion against former prime minister Imran Khan in April 2022.

“President Alvi is complicit in unconstitutional efforts to sabotage the vote of no confidence. Violating constitution and his oath to undermine the transfer of power,” Bilawal said in a Twitter post following Alvi’s barely-attended address to the joint parliamentary session.

His address to the joint parliamentary session was boycotted by almost all the major political parties in the ruling coalition, including the PPP.

“We demand efforts to impeach him must begin as soon as possible,” Bilawal said in the same Tweet, adding that the "PPP joined allies in boycotting his address."

The April vote of no confidence followed the Supreme Court ruling that the cricket star turned politician acted unlawfully in previously impeding the process and dissolving the parliament.

President Alvi had disbanded the National Assembly on Khan's advice under Article 58 of the Constitution.

The lower house of parliament voted to remove Prime Minister Imran Khan from office, following a nearly 14-hour deadlock between the opposition and the then-ruling PTI.

Talking to the chairs

President Alvi spoke to the session with the hall nearly empty. There were only 15 lawmakers in the audience during the President's speech; however, later this number was reduced to 12." Undeterred by the scanty audience, the president pressed ahead with his address.

Some of the PTI defectors were also present in the hall. The Speaker asked the members to take their seats. Balochistan Awami Party lawmakers were in attendance too, while those from the PML-N, PPP, and JUI-F boycotted the President's address without any prior warning.

On the other hand, PTI's members of the Parliament said they boycotted the session because they did not believe in this assembly. Out of 422, only 14 lawmakers were in the hall during the President's address.

Under clause number 3 of Article 56, the president must address the Parliament after each general election and at the first session of the parliamentary year to inform the lawmakers of the "causes of its summons".

This will be the shortest parliamentary year since it would consist of 310 days, given that the NA is not dissolved earlier.

President Alvi was to address the joint session on August 14, but due to the apprehensions of the coalition government, the address was postponed.