ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government is still undecided about convening a joint sitting of the parliament for the mandatory presidential address due to unclear situation in Afghanistan and a call by the country’s journalist organisations to stage a sit-in against the proposed law to set up a new media regulatory body in the country, Dawn has learnt.

Background interviews with a number of members belonging to the ruling and opposition parties and the concerned officials of the National Assembly and the Senate secretariats revealed that the government had not so far informed them about any date for the constitutionally mandatory president’s address to the joint sitting of the two houses of the parliament that has already become due on August 13.

Sources told Dawn that the government had previously decided to hold the joint sitting in the first week of September, but now it was contemplating to call it sometime in the second week of the month. They said the government was reluctant to call the session early because of the constant demand from the opposition for a thorough parliamentary debate on the situation in Afghanistan after the August 15 Taliban takeover of Kabul as the opposition might ask the government to continue the session for an indefinite period which is otherwise held only for a day and prorogued immediately after the president’s address under Article 56(3) of the Constitution.

Treasury, opposition legislators are yet to be informed about date of president’s address

Article 56(3) 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 and inform the Majlis-i-Shoora (Parliament) of the causes of its summons.”

After the president’s address, the members of the National Assembly and the Senate separately pass motions of thanks for the president for his address after general debates on it in the two houses.

Last year, President Dr Arif Alvi had addressed the parliament’s joint sitting on August 20, but the National Assembly passed the motion of thanks on August 12 this year, the last day of the third parliamentary year as the members gave no importance to the address and the motion continued to be part of the agenda almost for a year.

Another factor hampering the government’s efforts to call the joint session, according to the sources, is the call given by the journalists’ bodies to stage a sit-in outside the Parliament House during the presidential address against the frequent physical attacks on journalists, forced sackings from media organisations, non-payment of salaries to the media workers and the government proposal to set up Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) to regulate print, electronic and social media.

Besides the journalists and media organisations, the opposition parties have also vowed to resist the move to set up the PMDA, terming it an attempt to further gag the media and the voices of dissent.

Calling it a ‘draconian law’, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party have even declared the proposed legislation in violation of the Constitution.

Through the proposed law seeking to set up the PMDA, the government wants to regulate films, electronic, print and digital media, including Web TV and news websites, while repealing all the current media-related laws.

A joint committee of the media organisations in the country had already unanimously rejected the government’s attempt to establish the PMDA. The committee comprising the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors, All Pakistan Newspapers Society, Pakistan Broadcasters Association, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and Association of Electronic Media Editors and News Directors in a statement had declared that it was planning to invite all human rights groups, lawyers and other sections of civil society to join hands in stopping the outrageous move by the government to put further curbs on the media.

On the other hand, despite resistance by the opposition parties and representatives of media bodies, federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry while talking to representatives of digital media platforms on August 15 had again expressed the government’s desire to set up the regulatory authority.

“We need to think over fake news, sectarian news and hate material. We are setting up PMDA. Digital media is our future,” the minister had stated. According to him, it was in the public interest that digital media should be regulated to control abusive, harmful and hateful contents.

Talking to the newly-elected office-bearers of the Parlia­mentary Reporters Association after administering oath to them, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani had appealed to the journalists to withdraw their protest call and offered to mediate between them and the government on the PDMA issue.

When contacted, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry ref­uted the impression that the government was delaying the joint sitting due to the journalists’ planned protest. The minister said the government was not worried at all over the protest call.

Mr Chaudhry alleged that the journalists’ organisations had given the call for the protest at the behest of the owners of the media organisations. He declared that he would organise a sit-in of the “working journalists” against the owners of the media organisations to counter the protest.

Despite repeated attempts, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan and chief whip of the ruling PTI in the National Assembly Amir Dogar could not be contacted to seek official comments.

At the start of the second parliamentary year in 2019, the president had addressed the joint sitting on Sept 12 whereas he had made the inaugural address on Sept 16, 2018 after his election. Due to the delay in the presidential address, the government has been unable to call the regular session of the assembly which can once again make it difficult for it to fulfil the other constitutional requirement of keeping the house in session for at least 130 days in a calendar parliamentary year.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2021