Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
President Arf Alvi has convened a National Assembly session hours before the lower house of parliament is set to meet for the oath-taking of newly-elected MNAs, sources told Geo News late Wednesday. The president has summoned the NA session at 10am today, they added.
Earlier, following a standoff between President Dr Arif Alvi and the Centre over inaugural proceedings, the National Assembly Secretariat on Wednesday said that the maiden session of the lower house of the Parliament will meet at 10am today (Thursday).
“National Assembly session to begin at 10am today (Thursday),” the notification read. National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had summoned the maiden sitting of lower house of Parliament on Feb 29 as President Arif Alvi refused to summon the session on account of an ‘incomplete house’. In response to a summary by the Parliamentary Affairs Division last week, the president said the lower house was not complete, so he could not summon the session as requested.
Sources claimed that President Alvi wanted to delay the session till the issuance of a notification by the Election Commission of Pakistan regarding the reserved seats of the Sunni Ittehad Council, which was joined by PTI-backed lawmakers.
