Pakistan President Zardari to address joint session of Parliament on April 16
Apr 08, 2024
Islamabad [Pakistan] April 8 : Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari called for a joint session of the Parliament on April 16 (Tuesday) at 4 pm, reported Geo News citing the press wing of the President House.
The President House in its statement, said that the president will address the joint session of Parliament at the commencement of the parliamentary year after the general elections under Article 56 (3) of the Constitution.
Meanwhile, he convened the joint session of the Parliament under Articles 54 (1) and 56 (3) of the Constitution.
Notably, this will be the first joint session following the start of the new parliamentary year in Pakistan after both the upper and lower house have their members elected constitutionally following the conduct of general elections.
Despite the February 8 general elections and former president Arif Alvi still in office, he was unable to summon a joint session as elections in the Senate were yet to be conducted, Geo News reported.
This comes weeks after President Zardari took the oath of the president's office and the successful conduct of Senate polls.
Previously, former president Alvi summoned a joint session of the Parliament on October 6, 2022 -- months after a coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was governing the Centre, reported Geo News.
However, the then-president Alvi called the session to mark the beginning of the last parliamentary year of the then-National Assembly in 2022.
In his address to the Parliament, which was marred by an unannounced boycott by the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F), the former president stressed the need for dialogue and urged to end polarisation amid the country's growing political instability,
"Polarisation doesn't end with stubbornness," he said, according to Geo News.
However, during the ex-president's speech, only 15 lawmakers were present in the audience, which was later reduced to 12.
Meanwhile, the PTI's members of the Parliament said that they boycotted the session because they did not believe in the then-assembly.
