ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain addressed rows upon rows of empty seats at the joint session of parliament on Thursday. Had the quorum been pointed out, the session would have been suspended and the president would have had to wait for one fourth of the members to arrive before beginning his annual presidential address.

Unlike in the past, when great excitement was attached to the president’s arrival in the house, crickets could be heard in the National Assembly. However, as the president began delivering his speech members slowly began strolling in.

Together, the National Assembly (342) and Senate (104) have 446 members of whom at least 112 must have been present in the house, if the quorum were called. “There is no parliamentary tradition of the quorum being pointed out during the mandatory annual presidential address. In the past, a lively protest was put up by opposition parties whenever General Pervez Musharraf had addressed parliament as president,” a veteran media person present in the press gallery told Dawn.

According to a former secretary of the Senate secretariat, the quorum clause—mandatory presence of one fourth of the total members—does apply whether it is a sitting of one house or a joint session, although it has never been exercised on such an occasion.

Few lawmakers present during joint session of parliament

In another rare instance in the recent parliamentary history of the country, even Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s arrival was quiet and he did not receive the thunderous desk-thumping welcome invariably accorded to him. When asked about the reason, a member of the ruling party explained that it was because of the scattered seating plan that party members could not synchronise their usual desk-thumping welcome for the prime minister. “Yes, the thin attendance was also partially the reason. On the eve of joint sitting of the parliament, heads of the parliamentary parties sit in the front row, while the rest of the lawmakers across party lines are seated alphabetically,” he said.

For another ruling party lawmaker, the reason for the lack of interest in the session was President Hussain’s limited influence on government as compared to former President Zardari or President General Pervez Musharraf. “This is probably why the lawmakers took the address lightly and only came to the house to mark their attendance when the president was already half-way through his speech,” he said.

But it was not only the lawmakers who missed the speech. Out of four provincial chief ministers only Dr Abdul Malik of Balochistan could be spotted in the guest gallery, although CMs of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were present in the capital, seen later in the day at the inauguration ceremony of the metro bus service. However, all provincial governors were present, with the exception of Dr Ishratul Ebad.

Even the press gallery was not as packed as usual. A reporter of a local Urdu daily commented, “This is reflective of the respect accorded by the ruling party to the president hand-picked by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. This is why people argue, as a ceremonial head, the president must be somebody who has rendered unprecedented services for the country, as done in neighbouring India.”

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2015

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