After facing criticism regarding the huge protocol given to him on his visit to Karachi, President Arif Alvi explained that he had been given the protocol despite his request not to be followed by long chain of official cars.
Taking to Twitter, President Alvi wrote, "The long chain of official cars following me is despite the fact that I asked all officials present at the airport not to embarrass me with a huge protocol & that 1 or 2 cars in front and 1 or 2 cars behind may satisfy their security needs."
He said his request had not been followed and that 'we have to try harder'.
The long chain of official cars following me is despite the fact that I asked all officials present at the airport not to embarrass me with a huge protocol & that 1 or 2 cars in front and 1 or 2 cars behind may satisfy their security needs. Did not happen. We have to try harder
— Dr. Arif Alvi (@ArifAlvi) September 15, 2018
The president arrived in Karachi on Friday night. A video surfaced on social media where several cars are seen giving protocol to President Alvi. The video raised criticism from the users after which the president gave his clarification on Twitter.
Almost 30 vehicles in President Arif Alvi's convoy in Karachi#NayaPakistan #PTI #arifalvi #President #PrimeMinisterIK #PrimeMinisterImranKhan @fawadchaudhry pic.twitter.com/ogk2RbEWiS
— 🇵🇰A.S.???????🇵🇰 (@askhanzada) September 15, 2018
On Saturday morning, President Alvi paid a visit to the mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and paid his respects. Sindh Governor Imran Ismail and Pakistan Peoples Party's Saeed Ghani also accompanied him.
The President has also called a a joint session of Parliament on September 17.