President Arif Alvi and Samina Alvi Get Candid About Their Marriage & Personal Life

The President and First Lady open up about romance, raising kids and humor in marriage.

In an appearance on Nida Yasir’s ‘Shan-e-Sahoor‘, President Arif Alvi and his wife Samina Alvi shared details about their personal life.

Arif Alvi married Samina Alvi in an arranged marriage. Turns out they’re distant cousins.

“We are distant cousins. We knew each other and had seen each other and were aware of the obvious age difference.”

But that didn’t put a damper on their love story. Dr. Arif Alvi admitted he is a bit of a traditional romantic at heart. The president would pen letters to his better half.

“I believe that happened after the wedding, and not before it, … We never had the chance to exchange letters before marriage since we were both in Karachi,” said the couple.


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So what does the couple argue most about? Clothes apparently.

“I have my own choice,” said Samina, laughing.

“And I follow suit,” the president chimed in.

Turns out the leading lady in his life had a lot to say about the President’s style choices.

“There are times when she objects to what I would wear and I’d ask her if I had ever criticised what she wore? … We’ve been married for almost 50 years. It’s been 48 years already and I have never asked her to change the way she dresses.”

To which Samina responded;

“That’s because I always dress well.”

When asked ‘does she end up dictating your wardrobe then?‘. Samina responded with;

“Oh no,”

but Arif Alvi asserted,

“She tries her best,”.

Speaking of his wife’s sense of humor, the President said, “It is better than mine!”

“You also joke with him often?” Nida Yasir asked the First Lady. “I joke with him less, and I tolerate him more and show patience.” Giving the impression of every older desi couple ever!

The couple has four children together. Samina mostly raised them while the president looked after their studies.

“It was from grade 9 to grade 12 that I taught them, … Samina was the one who groomed them otherwise.”

Education was a key part of their children’s childhood and upbringing. His daughters were more driven towards higher education after marriage, but their parents told them to focus on raising children.

“We tried to make our children understand the importance of education to a point that the only thing they thought about was education. That wasn’t what we wanted so we started focusing on other aspects as well. Even after our daughters were married, all they could think about was studying. I told them there was more to life than studying, raise your kids,” said the president.


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However, Dr. Arif Alvi also had his days of ditching school. The President recalled the days when he wasn’t the somber man he is today. He was quite a troublemaker in his childhood.

“Elders always branded me as the ‘mischievous one‘. I agree with them, I was always that kid who would be mischievous. I enjoyed going to school as well. Having said that, like every other kid, I have also fooled my way out of attending school, … I have very fond memories of my childhood. I was also punished rather frequently.”

 

More About Arif Alvi

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader, Arif Alvi is the 13th and current serving president of Pakistan. Dr. Arif Alvi is has a Bachelor of Dental Surgery from De’Montmorency College of Dentistry. He completed his master’s degree in prosthodontics from the University of Michigan in 1975. He received a master’s degree in orthodontics in 1984 from the University of the Pacific in San Francisco.

After returning to Pakistan, he started practicing dentistry and set up Alvi Dental Hospital. He is one of the earliest members of Imran Khan’s PTI.