Before the address of President Mamnoon Hussain to the joint sitting, Opposition Leader Aitzaz Ahsan chaired a meeting of the Senate opposition parties at the Parliament House. The PPP, ANP, BNP-Awami and PML-Q attended the meeting.
The PPP was clearly divided in both the houses, as the party led by Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah attended the session during the presidential address while the opposition led by Senator Aitzaz Ahsan in the Senate boycotted the session.
The senators were of the view that it was useless to attend the president’s address, as the premier had not taken the upper house of parliament seriously.Meanwhile, treasury members Ahsan Iqbal, Ishaq Dar and Zahid Hamid tried to convince the opposition to attend the session but their effort drew a blank.Later, taking to media persons, Aitzaz said the opposition in the Senate had reservations about the attitude of the prime minister towards the Senate.
He said Nawaz Sharif was the only prime minister in the world who had not attended any session of the Senate during the whole parliamentary year. “Neither the prime minister nor the defence minister and interior minister came to the Senate, which is a breech of parliament,” he said.
The PPP leader said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who was fond of making world records, should also note the performance of the prime minister. “The name of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should be included in the Guinness Book of Records.”
ANP Senator Haji Adeel said there was no better option available with the opposition to register their protest.PPP leader Senator Raza Rabbani said a powerless president was addressing parliament. He said President Mamnoon Hussain could not persuade the government to include the development projects for his home province in the annual budget.
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