[ad_1]
President Asif Ali Zardari is currently addressing the first joint session of the Parliament since he assumed office last month.
Zardari’s son PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and daughter Aseefa, who was recently sworn in as an MNA, are also in attendance. The address is Zardari’s record seventh to the joint sitting of the National Assembly and Senate.
The session is being live-streamed on the PTV Parliament YouTube channel. Zardari was elected to office on March 9, becoming the only Pakistani president to assume the role twice.
Speaking to both houses of the Parliament, he said: “Let me take this opportunity to express my sincerest gratitude to all parliamentarians nad provincial assembly members for their trust and confidence in electing me for a second time as the president of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. I am humbled.”
The president had earlier summoned the session for April 16 but reportedly delayed it at the request of lawmakers, mostly from the coalition parties.
During his five-year stint in the Presidency from September 2008 to 2013, he had already addressed the parliament six times. The sixth address on April 16, 2013 too was a record as no other president had addressed as many joint sittings before him.
After the February 2008 elections, the constitutional requirement of calling a joint session was fulfilled by Zardari, following which ex-presidents Mamnoon Hussain and Dr Arif Alvi also upheld the practice of addressing the sitting at the beginning of each parliamentary year.
The joint session has been called in pursuance of Articles 54(1) and 56(3) of the Constitution, the latter stating: “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 […].”
More to follow
[ad_2]
Source link
