President Arif Alvi to address parliament’s joint sitting today

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi will address the joint session of Parliament today (October 6), marking the last parliamentary year of the National Assembly, ARY News reported on Thursday.

According to a notification issued by the President House, the session has been called in line with articles 54(1) and 56(3) of the Constitution. The president has summoned the session on the recommendation of the federal government, it added.

President Arif Alvi will address the joint session of both houses of the parliament – the Senate and National Assembly at 05:00 pm.

Under Article 56’s clause three, the president must address the Parliament after each general election and the first session of the parliamentary year to inform the lawmakers of the “causes of its summons”.

The president address to the joint sitting of the parliament became due since the start of the National Assembly’s parliamentary year on August 14.

Earlier in September, National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf for the third time put off the joint sitting of parliament scheduled to be held on Sept 22 without giving any reason for another month.

The official notification in this regard said the speaker had delayed the joint sitting exercising his “powers conferred by the proviso to Rule 4 of the Parliament (Joint Sittings) Rules 1973”.

In August, President Arif Alvi offered to play his role to bring politicians to a table and said that he was ready to speak to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

Speaking to senior journalists at Governor House, Arif Alvi had said that political leadership should think of ongoing political and economic situation and should set aside their egos and sit on a table to address the issues.

“President has a constitutional role and I am willing to play any role to mediate between political leaders,” he said, adding that he was ready to talk to Shehbaz Sharif and Imran Khan for the sake of nation.