Senate session demanded to consider option of convening requisition session

While the federal government has dismissed the possibility of immediately summoning Senate session as a precautionary measure in the backdrop of the outbreak of coronavirus, the senators have once again demanded a Senate session be held and to consider the option of convening a requisition session in case the federal government is reluctant to summon a regular Senate session.

In this regard an 'informal' video link meeting was held, presided over by deputy chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwalla on Thursday and attended by senators from different political parties.

A press release issued by the Senate Secretariat quoted the deputy chairman Senate as saying that the country was faced with an unusual situation due to the outbreak of coronavirus which necessitates the urgency to convene Senate session.

"If the federal government does not summon the Senate session, the opposition has the option to summon Senate session through requisition," the press release quoted the opposition senators as having said.

On April 20, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani wrote a letter to Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser requesting him to "make the chamber of the NA available for sitting of the Senate to assume its constitutional role while taking all precautionary measures in view of the health advisories."

In the letter, Sanjrani mentioned that parliamentary practices exist wherein the chamber of Senate was used by National Assembly of Pakistan for holding the sessions when fire eruption destroyed the NA chamber in 1993.

However, the speaker NA did not respond to the letter.

Requesting anonymity, a senator from treasury benches told Business Recorder that the federal government had conveyed to the chairman Senate that holding Senate session is not possible in present circumstances keeping in view the serious challenges posed by coronavirus with the mortality rate and the number of infected patients rapidly increasing across Pakistan including Islamabad.

"But it seems that the chairman Senate gave in to the pressure from opposition senators to hold Senate session in disregard of ground realities. The parliamentarians need to realise that dealing with coronavirus is a matter that strictly falls in the domain of the Executive, not Legislature. At this crucial hour, we need to stop playing politics," the insider said.

However, the source said the federal government would honour any decision collectively taken by the parliamentarians.

The source admitted that there was no provision for holding virtual session of the Senate but said that virtual session could be held if chairman Senate issued a ruling in its favour keeping in view the extraordinary circumstances. On April 22, a meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Rules of Procedures and Privileges presided over by its Chairperson Ayesha Raza Farooq from Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) was held which declared that there was no provision of holding the virtual session of the Senate in the constitution and discussed the option to "utilise the galleries for the senators to create space for social distance for Senate session."