President Asif Ali Zardari is currently addressing the first joint session of the Parliament since he assumed office last month.
Zardari’s son PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and daughter Aseefa, who was recently sworn in as an MNA, are also in attendance. The address is Zardari’s record seventh to the joint sitting of the National Assembly and Senate.
The session is being live-streamed on the PTV Parliament YouTube channel. Zardari was elected to office on March 9, becoming the only Pakistani president to assume the role twice.
As soon as he began speaking, slogans from PTI-Sunni Ittehad Council lawmakers reverberated in the House as they chanted “Go Zardari go” while also carrying posters.
However, the president was undeterred by the ruckus and powered on with his speech, which was drowned out by the sloganeering.
Speaking to both houses of the Parliament, he said: “Let me take this opportunity to express my sincerest gratitude to all parliamentarians and provincial assembly members for their trust and confidence in electing me for a second time as the president of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. I am humbled.”
“Let me begin this year by sharing my vision for the future; much of it is based on the choices I’ve made in my past,” Zardari said.
Referring to the 18th Amendment brought during his previous tenure, he said, “ I chose to give away my powers to parliament […] I expect you to use those powers with the wisdom and maturity this country needs.”
Stating that he saw his role as a “unifying symbol of a joint and unified federation”, President Zardari emphasised it was “time to turn a new page”. “If we see today as a new beginning we can invest in our strength and people by focusing on public needs,” he added.
The president stressed that the country needed its leaders to “move from the polarisation so common, to contemporary politics”. “This house must play a role in rebuilding confidence,” he asserted.
“The country needs us to take a pause and reflect on what we prioritise in our goals, narratives and agendas,” the president said, adding that he believed that the leaders could “lift the political atmosphere to reflect more light than heat”.
Noting that he drew inspiration from great leaders such as Qaudi-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and ex-premiers Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir, Zardari said the challenges being faced by the country were not impossible to overcome.
“They just require dialogue, parliamentary consensus and a timeline of implementation of rigorous reforms aimed to address new and underlying issues facing us,” he emphasised.
The second-time president said: “Let’s begin with a vision that strives to leave no one behind, the political leadership gathering in this house must prioritise the needs of communities in underdeveloped areas.”
The president had earlier summoned the session for April 16 but reportedly delayed it at the request of lawmakers, mostly from the coalition parties.
During his five-year stint in the Presidency from September 2008 to 2013, he had already addressed the parliament six times. The sixth address on April 16, 2013 too was a record as no other president had addressed as many joint sittings before him.
After the February 2008 elections, the constitutional requirement of calling a joint session was fulfilled by Zardari, following which ex-presidents Mamnoon Hussain and Dr Arif Alvi also upheld the practice of addressing the sitting at the beginning of each parliamentary year.
