ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, felicitated the newly elected President of Pakistan, Arif Alvi, and expressed the hope that the new president would rise above the party politics and would act as the head of state and symbol of federation in accordance with the letter and spirit of the Constitution of Pakistan. In a statement issued on Tuesday, Bilawal said that the PPP, while felicitating the President-elect, would also keep an eye on how he conducts himself during his presidency. He also said that as the leaders of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf (PTI), both the Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Arif Alvi, undermined the Parliament and civilian state institutions in the past. He called upon them to publicly distance themselves from their past actions that de-legitimized the Parliament. Bilwal further said that, as a first step in legitimizing the Parliament, a parliamentary committee should be set up without further delay to investigate the severe discrepancies in the 2018 elections. The PPP Chairman reminded the President-elect that the call for forensic audit of all the Forms 45, uploaded by the Election Commission of Pakistan on its web site, and investigations in the failure of Result Transmission System (RTS) could not be avoided any longer. Published in Daily Times, September 5th 2018.