President General Pervez Musharraf will deliver his much-awaited presidential address to the Parliament's joint sitting next week, as the option of distribution of copies of his address had been dropped. The President has decided to fulfill the constitutional requirement by delivering the address instead of sending copies of the speech, sources told Business Recorder here on Saturday. The sources added that a summary suggesting May 4 or 5 for this purpose had already been sent to the President. However, it will be purely his discretion when to summon the special session.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Dr Sher Afgan Niazi has confirmed that he had dispatched a summary to the President House after consulting Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
The special session to be summoned would include two items on its agenda, ie the recitation from the Holy Quran and the Presidential Address.
The minister said he was not sure when the President would summon the special session and fulfil the constitutional requirement, but insisted that within days, this would be done.
He brushed aside the impression that in view of possible pandemonium by the opposition, President Musharraf had dropped the idea of himself coming to the Parliament.
"No, President Musharraf will come to the Parliament, as he is part of it, and fulfil the constitutional requirement," Sher Afgan maintained.
The minister had earlier hinted at the possibility of President skipping the event and instead copies of his address would be distributed among the lawmakers.
Article-56 (3) of the Constitution says: "at the commencement of the first session of each year, the President shall address both Houses assembled together and inform the Parliament of the causes of its summoning".
However, the Monday's (May 2) session of the National Assembly would be the 3rd of the new year while the Senate had also held two sessions, following the completion of its calendar year.
The opposition has been drawing the attention of the National Assembly and the Senate towards the delay in convening of the special session since January this year.
It goes without saying that to deliver a presidential speech has never been a pleasant experience. Ex-presidents Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Farooq Leghari, and even Musharraf had not enjoyed a smooth sailing.
Ghulam Ishaq Khan witnessed chants of 'go baba go', Leghari faced the most unfortunate situation, wherein Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader Tehmina Daultana threw her shawl at him during his address.
Likewise, the opposition had shouted slogans such as 'go Musharraf go' and 'no to dictatorship' last year.
The delay in the presidential address is mainly attributed to the government efforts to develop better relationship with the opposition so that Musharraf delivers his speech to a clam and silent House and makes an exit.
But this does not appear to be in the cards: the apparent collapse of the government-PPP contacts and MMA's anger over President Musharraf for not fulfilling the commitment to quit as the army chief by December 31 last year would add to the heat in the opposition camp when he steps in the Parliament and delivers the address.
Comments
Comments are closed.