ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi will make his maiden address to a joint sitting of parliament on Monday (today) as the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) claims that the main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party has assured the government that its members will not disrupt the proceedings.

The government had earlier convened the joint sitting on Sept 13 and regular sessions of the National Assembly and the Senate on Sept 14, but cancelled it a day before at the PML-N’s request and to avoid possible criticism of the move as it was coinciding with the funeral of former first lady Begum Kulsoom Nawaz.

The regular sessions of both the houses of parliament will now be held separately on Tuesday (tomorrow) in which Finance Minister Asad Umar is expected to present the mini-budget for the remaining 10 months of the current financial year.

PTI claims PML-N has assured govt of not disrupting proceedings

The PML-N had last week protested the government’s move to summon the joint sitting at a time when the party was in a state of mourning and had already announced suspension of its political activities for three days due to the demise of Kulsoom Nawaz.

Sources in the PML-N told Dawn that the party had through former NA speaker Ayaz Sadiq approached the government leaders and Speaker Asad Qaiser with the request to delay the sessions to enable the party legislators to attend them.

Talking to Dawn, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi claimed that the government had set new dates for the sessions after consulting the opposition.

Mr Qureshi, who is also vice chairman of the PTI, said he had talked to senior PML-N leader Ayaz Sadiq who assured him that the opposition members would not disrupt the president’s address and that they would listen to the speech while maintaining decorum.

Opposition’s protest

Mr Qureshi, however, said the opposition might register its protest over the issue of alleged rigging in the July 25 general elections during the regular session of the National Assembly the next day. He said the opposition parties’ demand for constitution of a parliamentary commission to probe charges of rigging in the elections was being considered by the party leadership.

The senior PTI leader said they had told the opposition parties that they would come back to them on the issue after holding a consultation within the party.

“We have so far not rejected the opposition’s demand. We will look into it and apprise them,” he said, adding that the party leadership could take up the issue in its meeting to be held on Monday (today) before the start of the joint session.

Parliamentary commission

When contacted, PML-N information secretary Mushahidullah Khan confirmed that Ayaz Sadiq was in contact with the PTI leaders. He said the PML-N also wanted to see the democratic system running in the country and that was why they were giving time to the government to consider their demand for the parliamentary commission. He said they might not protest during the presidential address as a goodwill gesture, but they could not give such an assurance for the future sessions. He, however, said the party would finalise its strategy at a meeting on Monday.

The government had disclosed its plan to convene the joint sitting at a meeting of the parliamentary leaders presided over by NA Speaker Asad Qaiser on Sept 10. The meeting had been convened by the speaker in an effort to seek cooperation from the opposition parties for conducting the proceedings smoothly. However, the opposition parties had asked the government to constitute the parliamentary commission to probe the charges of rigging in the July 25 elections before convening the joint sitting, if it wanted a smooth sailing in parliament. After the meeting, Shah Mehmood Qureshi confirmed that the opposition had put the condition of formation of the parliamentary commission for ensuring smooth proceedings.

Speaking at a news conference in Lahore earlier this month, PML-N president and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif had asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to keep his words and constitute the commission to probe allegations of rigging and recommend steps to block rigging attempts in future. Mr Sharif had warned that the opposition alliance would not let the house function if the commission was not constituted.

The PML-N had earlier disrupted the proceedings of the National Assembly soon after the elections of the speaker, deputy speaker and the prime minister. However, the other major opposition party — Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) — had not joined the PML-N’s noisy protest.

Talking to Dawn on Sunday, PPP vice president Sherry Rehman said the party had convened a joint meeting of its MNAs and senators on Monday to discuss a strategy for the joint sitting. She said that like other opposition parties, the PPP also wanted the government to form the parliamentary commission to investigate the rigging allegations.

Under Article 56(3) of the Constitution, the president is required to address a joint sitting of parliament at the beginning of the parliamentary year. It states: “At the commencement of the first session after each general election to the National Assembly and at the commencement of the first session of each year, the President shall address both Houses assembled together.”

Dr Arif Alvi was elected 13th president of the country on Sept 4.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2018