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ISLAMABAD: A day after the government announced summoning of the National Assembly session on May 11, the opposition parties in the Senate on Wednesday submitted a requisition notice for convening the session of the upper house of parliament.
The opposition members have submitted the requisition notice under Article 54(3) of the Constitution with a five-point agenda, mainly seeking discussion on the situation related to coronavirus and its impact on the country’s economy.
Under the Constitution, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani is bound to convene the session within 14 days by May 20. However, the chairman is expected to convene the session next week when the National Assembly will already be in session so as to provide an opportunity to the ministers to divide their responsibilities and ensure their presence in both the houses.
Last sitting of the Senate was held on March 2 when the members had succeeded in fulfilling the constitutional requirement of keeping the house in session for at least 110 days in a parliamentary year after they met continuously for seven weeks.
House may see fireworks over Centre-Sindh differences on handling the situation
The Senate’s parliamentary year begins on March 12 and the requisitioned session will be the first sitting of the new parliamentary year.
After attending a meeting of the special NA committee on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had announced that the government and the opposition had reached an understanding for convening the physical session of the assembly from May 11 under strict adherence to health guidelines and standard operating procedures.
The minister said the NA sittings would be held on alternate days for a limited duration and only to hold a discussion on the current situation due to spread of Covid-19 in the country and the steps taken by the government to fight the pandemic.
Mr Qureshi had stated that there would be no question hour during the session. Similarly, he said call-attention notices and privilege and adjournment motions would also not be taken up during the session. As far as the attendance of the members was concerned, the minister said the issue had been left on the parliamentary leaders of the parties as they would decide as to which member would attend the sitting on a particular day.
He also disclosed that an understanding had been reached that quorum would not be pointed out during the sittings.
When contacted, parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the Senate Sherry Rehman said so far the opposition had made no agreement with the government on issues like suspension of the question hour and other business, attendance and quorum. She said these issues would be discussed in the meeting of the House Business Advisory Committee on Friday (tomorrow).
According to the agenda submitted with the requisition notice, the opposition members have sought a debate on “the grave situation arising out of the coronavirus epidemic in Pakistan”.
The Senate is also expected to see some fireworks over the differences between the Centre and the PPP-led Sindh government over the handling of the coronavirus situation as one of the agenda items shows that the opposition also wants to have a discussion on “the federal government’s policy on uniting the country at a time of serious emergency for Pakistan and its implications on the democratic and constitutional governance of the federation, including the role of parliament and its ongoing efficacy in the time of crisis”.
Similarly, the opposition wants the government to explain its policy and efforts for saving the lives of people across the federation and international border crossings with decisions based on transparent sharing of medical data amidst an alarming rise in Covid-19 cases.