Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Wednesday called upon the government to restore domestic flights of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in order to ensure the attendance of senators in the upcoming session of the Upper House of the Parliament.

Presiding over a meeting to deliberate upon convening the physical session of the Senate after some 34 senators submitted a requisition to the Senate Secretariat, Sanjrani said that without restoration of the local flights, attendance of the members could not be ensured.

He said that the members belonging to Balochistan and Sindh could ensure their attendance in the session if the operations of the national flag carrier, was restored as they had to travel to Islamabad from far-flung areas of the country.

The Senate chairman also visited Senate hall to take stock of the house capacity as what could be done to maintain social distancing inside the tiny senate hall as government had clearly refused to convene the session, saying it was simply not possible to hold a session given capacity of the Senate hall.

Senator Shibli Faraz who was leader of the house in the Senate had said before taking over as federal minister for information and broadcasting that in the current circumstances, there would be no session as it would not be possible to ensure social distancing inside senate hall.

However, after the government summoned the National Assembly session, the opposition lawmakers submitted a requisition to immediately convene Senate session.

But the government is yet to decide what steps it should take to hold the session given the current situation due to the coronavirus in the country.