Alvi to address joint session on 13th

The Senate and the National Assembly will convene on September 13 in a joint session to mark the beginning of the fourth year of the current government with the address of President Dr Arif Alvi, according to Adviser to Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan.

Awan said on Friday that the fourth parliamentary year of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government would start from September 13, adding that it had been decided that the opening session of parliament would be held on that date at 11 am.

Awan said that the decision had been taken after his consultation with President Alvi, National Assembly Asad Qaiser and Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani. Awan said that the president in his address to the session, dilate on the state policy and give the roadmap for the fourth parliamentary year.

“Despite sit-ins, coronavirus and threats from the opposition, the start of the fourth year is a success for both parliament and the government,” Awan said, adding: “The Imran Khan government will fulfil both its five-year and election promises.”

The third parliamentary year of the PTI-led government ended on August 12 without having a full-fledged debate on the president’s address in August last year. Though the address remained on the agenda for weeks but a proper discussion could not take place in the house till the last working day.

Read Alvi, Awan discuss new parliamentary year

Resultantly, the motion of thanks, stating: “This House expresses its deep gratitude to the President of Pakistan for his address to both Houses assembled together on 20th August, 2020” was passed without speeches, making any amendments in the address and a concluding speech by the government side.

The last session of the third year ended at extending an ordinance – the Pakistan Civil Aviation Ordinance, 2021. Reportedly, the government passed at least 18 ordinances in the third year – a practice which the political experts say saved the government a considerable amount of work

However, the practice cut short the contribution and diverse points of view of the other parties. Surprising as it may seem, the political use of such legislation was evident from the fact that a total 2,229 ordinances were passed between 1947 and 2019.

On the last working day, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri had directed Awan to take up the issue of federal ministers’ “frequent” absent from the assembly sessions in the federal cabinet meeting.

Before coming to power in 2018, Prime Minister Imran had made a commitment that he would attend the assembly sessions at least twice a month to answer lawmakers’ questions. However, it didn’t happen.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had earlier revealed that the sole reason of the prime minister not coming to speak on the floor of the house was that the opposition frequently marred the assembly proceedings in his presence.