ISLAMABAD: A petition was filed in the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Saturday seeking removal of President Dr. Arif Alvi for “not acting in accordance with the responsibilities” of his office.

Alvi, who took oath as the 13th president of Pakistan in September 2018, completed his five-year constitutional term on September 8, this year. He, however, continues to hold the office under Article 44 of the Constitution of Pakistan, which allows a president to continue to stay in office in the absence of provincial and national assemblies that were respectively dissolved in January and August.

Some of his controversial decisions include an attempted dissolution of the National Assembly, the lower house of Pakistan parliament, ahead of a no-trust vote against his party leader and former premier, Imran Khan, sending a presidential reference against Supreme Court judge, Qazi Faez Isa, who is currently the chief justice of Pakistan, and his failure to announce a date for national elections.

In his petition against the president, Ghulam Murtaza Khan cited some controversial decisions made by Alvi and contended that he misused his powers by using his office to support ex-PM Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which was “unconstitutional and biased” toward the nation.

“It is, therefore, respectfully prayed that by accepting the instant Constitution Petition, this Honourable Court may issue directions to investigate the matter and declare that the present President Mr. Arif Alvi, should not continue as President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” the petition read.

Major Pakistani political parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), have also repeatedly accused Dr. Alvi of being “biased” toward Khan’s party and acting as a “party member” instead of a head of the state.

The petitioner also said that Alvi contradicted with his position by giving controversial statements on various occasions, citing a controversy that arose from Alvi’s return of the Official Secrets Amendment Bill and Pakistan Army Amendment Bill without signing them.

In August, President Alvi announced via X messaging platform that he had asked staff to return the bills, granting widespread powers to the military, unsigned within the stipulated time to make them ineffective.

The development came amid a crackdown on Alvi’s party following attacks by its supporters on government and military installations to protest ex-PM Khan’s brief arrest in a graft case in May.

“These kind of acts have made the character of the President very distrustful for whole the nation,” the petitioner added.