ISLAMABAD: The joint session of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) held here on Thursday and President Dr. Arif Alvi addressed the both Houses as per constitutional requirement.
The 15th National Assembly witnessed the fifth and last Presidential address to the Parliament under clause (3) of Article 56 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The first Presidential address to the incumbent Assembly was made on September 17, 2018, second on September 12, 2019, third on August 20, 2020, fourth on September 13, 2021 and fifth on October 6, 2022.
It is worth mentioning here that the fourth parliamentary year was concluded seven weeks ago on August 13, 2022 and the joint session. According to the National Assembly sources, a total of 156 bills including private members bills have been passed so far by the incumbent lower house. Of these bills, 10 were passed during the first parliamentary year, 30 during the second parliamentary year, 60 during third parliamentary year, 54 during the fourth parliamentary year and remaining two during 5th parliamentary year which formally started on August 14, 2022.
A total of 122 bills have become Acts after the approval of the President during this tenure. The bills passed by the House were mainly related to protection and raising alert about missing or abducted child and protection of women rights of ownership in property, right of review and reconsideration to the judgment of the International Court of Justice, formulate a post-retirement procedure for NAB chairman and ensure freedom of media and safety to media professionals.
The former PTI government relied heavily on ordinances for legislation and a total of 73 ordinances were presented during its tenure of more than three and half years.
The 15th Assembly has also been unique in terms of the elections to the offices of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker. The Assembly had to choose the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker twice during last four parliamentary years. The re-election to both these offices was necessitated after the resignation of Speaker Asad Qaisar and Qasim Khan Suri while Imran Khan was voted out as Prime Minister by the National Assembly and Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif was elected as new Leader of the House (Prime Minister). However, MNA Raja Pervaiz Ashraf (PPPP) and Zahid Akram Durrani (MMAP) were elected unopposed against positions of Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively.
The lawmakers were also keen in moving the private members’ bill as 279 private members’ bills were introduced in the lower House. In addition, the House adopted 108 resolutions making recommendations to the government on the issues concerning foreign affairs, economy, internal security, water, criminal justice system and others.
During the four years, a total of the 359 reports of committees were presented in the House. The House witnessed address by the President of Turkey to the Joint Session of both Houses of the Parliament while the President of Pakistan also addressed on four occasions before the advent of parliamentary year. It was the fifth and last address of the President to the 15th National Assembly which has been mandated till August 13, 2023.
