President Alvi rejects summary to summon National Assembly session

President Arif Alvi is reported to have rejected the summary to summon a National Assembly session.

According to the sources, the president has demanded that all reserved seats should be allocated first before the summoning of the session.

Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday confirmed that a summary requisitioning the session of the assembly was sent to the president by the parliamentary affairs division four days ago, but there has been no official res­ponse from President Alvi. 

According to a National Assembly Secretariat official, the president is bound to summon the session within 21 days and if he fails to do so, then the NA secretariat could bypass him and summon the session under Article 91(2) of the Constitution.

The official added the secretariat had already made necessary arrangements for the new assembly’s session.

On the other hand, Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaf (PTI) leader Shaukat Yousafzai asserted that pressuring President Arif Alvi to hold a joint session of Parliament goes against the principles of law and constitution.

Yousufzai said the alliance between PML-N, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is driven by personal and political motives rather than the nation’s best interests.

He highlighted the selective memory of PML-N, accusing them of conveniently disregarding past constitutional violations during the caretaker government and transforming into a “family party”.

Another PTI leader Sharam Turki maintained that his party holds the true mandate and lambasted Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for providing inaccurate numbers.

It’s “unfair” that party members are not allocated specific seats, he said, questioning, “Then what’s the point of convening a session?”

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is yet to issue a notification on 20 seats reserved for women and three seats reserved for non-Muslim lawmakers.

The PTI-backed independents who joined the SIC — which did not have any seats in NA — have 92 seats in the lower house.

It may be noted a member of the SIC won one seat as an independent candidate.