President warns of 'unrest in country' if govt arrests Imran.

LAHORE -- President Dr Arif Alvi Thursday said that there was no reason to justify the postponement of elections as they were required to be held within the stipulated time under the Constitution.

'I have full confidence in the people of Pakistan, relevant institutions, and organised political parties that they would ensure holding of elections within the time-frame given in the Constitution', he said while talking to journalists at Governor House, Lahore.The president maintained that Pakistan's constitution was supreme and could not be ignored.The President said that during his talk with the Governor of Punjab, he had told him that no action would be taken outside the confines of the Constitution with regard to holding of elections in the province.

The president said that the spirit behind the caretaker government was to ensure its neutrality so that elections are held in a transparent, fair and just manner by giving all political parties a level playing field to contest the elections.He emphasised that this spirit should be reflected in the making of caretaker governments.

He said that it was unfortunate that several results in local bodies elections held in Sindh were delayed and reemphasised the use of technology, especially Electronic Voting Machines, to ensure speedy compilation of results and conduct free, fair and transparent elections.

Talking about the president's role in the Constitution, he said: 'He has to be a neutral President by all means; I would always follow the spirit of the Constitution in all matters related to the conduct of official business by setting aside my personal likes or dislikes'.

Replying to a question, the president further said that he had asked time and again the political and other relevant stakeholders that there was a dire need to lower down the political as well as economic temperature which was possible only when all stakeholders and relevant institution agreed on major issues confronting the nation like political polarization, economy and higher inflation faced by the people.

The president said that the government had yet not indicated its resolve to enter into dialogue and had not made any progress on this matter. He opined that the government might have believed that after their understanding with the IMF and signing of an agreement with the IMF, economic conditions would have improved, thus eliminating the need for any dialogue.

Answering another question, he said that he believed the intent...

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