President Asif Ali Zardari has called for making joint efforts to steer the country of crisis and also called upon all stakeholders to play their role for the prosperity of the nation.
He stated this while addressing the joint session of parliament year after the February 8 general elections amid protest staged by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) lawmakers.
“Let me also take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all parliamentarians and provincial assembly members for their trust and confidence in electing me for a second time as the president of Islamic republic of Pakistan,” the president said this in his opening remarks.
President Zardari said their agenda and ideology will strengthen the country and underlined the need for creating a political environment to fulfill the expectations of all stakeholders.
He asked the political leadership of the country to highlight their priorities and stressed the need for ending differences for the country's prosperity.
"We have to carry out different economic reforms and make ties between provinces cordial."
President Zardari called for taking positive steps, saying harmony among institutions is the need of the hour to pave wave for the development of the country.
The joint session was convened by the president under the powers provisioned in Articles 54 (1) and 56 (3) of the Constitution.
This was President Zardari's seventh address as he has previously addressed the joint session of the parliament six times before during his previous tenure as the country's head of state from 2008 to 2013.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Aseefa Bhutto among other members of National Assembly and Senate attended the joint sitting.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was also present in the House.
Additionally, the president has also summoned NA session on Friday (tomorrow) at 10:30 am in exercise of the powers conferred to him under Article 54 (1) of the Constitution.
Earlier, the joint session was convened on April 16 but was rescheduled for today.
It should be noted that this will be the first joint session following the start of the new parliamentary year in the country after both the upper and lower House members were elected.
Despite elections taking place on February 8 and former president Arif Alvi still in office, he was unable to summon a joint session as elections in the Senate were yet to be conducted.
Previously, Alvi had summoned a joint session of the parliament on October 6, 2022 — months after a coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was governing the centre.
However, the then-president had called the session to mark the beginning of the last parliamentary year of the then-National Assembly in 2022.
The National Assembly Secretariat had invited the chief justice of Pakistan, governors and chief ministers of all the provinces, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Furthermore, several senior officials and officeholders including the Pakistan Army's chairman joint chiefs of staff committee (CJCSC), the three services chiefs, speakers, deputy speakers of all provincial assemblies, legislative assembly of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan were also invited to the joint session.
