Parliament's joint sitting today

Ag Agencies

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has summoned the joint session of Parliament to meet on Monday (September 13) at 4:00 pm.

In exercise of powers conferred by clause (1) of the Article 54 read with (3) of the Article 56 of the constitution, the President summoned both the houses of Parliament to assemble together in the Parliament House on Monday, said a notification.The President will address the joint sitting at the advent of fourth parliamentary year. The whole opposition and independent members of the two houses will boycott the presidential address after raising their voice for solidarity with the media having sit-in outside the Parliament House to oppose the establishment of Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA).

The parliamentary sources told The News here Sunday that heads of opposition parliamentary groups would have a meeting before the commencement of joint sitting with Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif in the chair to evolve strategy for the joint sitting’s proceedings. It is likely that the protest of the opposition in house would be within parameters of decency and if the chair doesn’t allow the opposition leaders to express their views on the PDMA, the whole opposition would boycott the address of the president after effective protest inside the House. The opposition and independent members would proceed straight to the sit-in of the media supported by the lawyers, civil society, and intellectuals.

The sources said that Quaid of Pakistan Muslim League (PMLN) Nawaz Sharif will issue a special statement on the occasion in expression of his solidarity with the protesters and it would in shape of a video message to be released from London. The sources pointed out that the government had changed the timing of the joint sitting as it would be held in afternoon now against the earlier schedule for forenoon. The change has been made to make effective security arrangements at the face of protest outside the Parliament House. The sources pointed out that the government had planned to summon the National Assembly and Senate separately immediate after the joint sitting of the Parliament but now it has been decided to convene the session of NA next week. The NA secretariat has made seating arrangement for 451 persons including MNAs, Senators, five advisers of the Prime Minister and attorney general in the chamber. The services chiefs, judges of superior courts including chief justices and a number of other dignitaries have been invited for the sitting.