The President has summoned the parliament to meet in a joint session on September 20, according to a notification issued by National Assembly Secretariat. President Asif Ali Zardari, who is currently visiting the UK on his private tour, will address the joint session of the Senate and National Assembly.
Zardari's inaugural address will end a precedent set by President Pervez Musharraf who avoided the mandatory speech by head of the state at the start of each parliamentary year.
The summary for the joint session was sent to the President by the Ministry for Parliamentary Affairs last week. Musharraf had addressed the joint sitting of both houses of the parliament in early 2004 but following the rumpus by PML (N) and PPP members during his speech he declared the parliament as 'uncivilised', and he never called a joint session until he resigned in August under threat of impeachment.
According to Article 56 of the constitution, the President has to address the joint sitting of the Senate and National Assembly, an official said.
The central leadership of Zardari's party, PPP, has started the exercise of the speech for the new President.
The address could be a landmark that could spell out a strategy for the government to lead the country in the right direction in the present scenario. Pakistan is facing internal and external threats, and opposition parties, now including the PML (N), have been demanding holding of the joint session of the parliament.