Joint session of Parliament for presidential address likely on Sept 13

ISLAMABAD: Joint session of the Parliament is likely to be held on September 13 (Thursday) for the address of President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi.

“It was proposed in the meeting of parliamentary leaders of the political parties to call the joint session of the parliament for the address of the president on September 13,” said a press release.

The meeting was chaired by the Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser and also attended by the Minister for Defence Pervaiz Khattak, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Finance Minister Asad Umer, Deputy Speaker Muhammad Qasim Khan Suri, Malik Amir Dogar, Ayaz Sadiq, Rana Tanveer, Syed Mustafa Shah, Syed Naveed Qamar, Maulana Asad Mehmood and Parliamentary Secretary of Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

It was also decided to call the regular session of the National Assembly on September 14 (Friday).

The meeting also discussed the formation of National Assembly Standing Committees. The Speaker said formation of standing committees is his earlier priority.

As per the laws the members of the National Assembly standing committees is required to be elected till September 17, by the House.

The standing committees of the House play an important role of oversight and monitoring the working of the relevant ministries of the government. In the parliamentary democracies, the committees are regarded as “eyes, ears, hands and even brain of the Parliament”.

The Standing Committees can also examine bills referred to them by the House and submit its reports to the House.