Qureshi says parliamentary session on coronavirus to be held on May 11

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Tuesday a parliamentary session on coronavirus was expected to be held on May 11, at 3pm.

Speaking to the media here in the federal capital, Qureshi said the parliamentary session would continue with a one-day gap. "It was decided that no quorum will be identified in this meeting," he added.

"The session of the Parliament will be limited to [discussion on] the coronavirus pandemic only," the foreign minister underlined.

Qureshi also explained that no visitors would be allowed to participate in the session and that movement in the Parliament Lodges would also be limited.

Chaudhry laments virtual session idea being ignored

A day prior, Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry had said Monday the Opposition parties opposed technology by opposing a proposed virtual meeting of the Parliament amid the coronavirus lockdown.

"The Parliament session is necessary but people's health is also necessary," Chaudhry had said.

"The speaker [of the National Assembly] has contracted the coronavirus," he had added, referring to PTI leader Asad Qaiser, who had tested positive for COVID-19 alongside his son and daughter on April 30.

The federal minister had said he earlier proposed a virtual meeting. "We don't go to the Parliament to hug each other; one has to talk, make speeches," he noted.

The Parliament, he had underscored, had a role in the political sphere, which was why it was necessary to call a virtual meeting. The Opposition parties by opposing the idea of a virtual meeting had resisted technology, he had observed.