ISLAMABAD: The parliament’s second joint sitting in a week will take place today (Monday) at 4pm, with important national issues on the agenda.

However, despite the joint sitting, the Senate will also resume its session today — something constitutional experts say has already happened in the past.

On Sunday, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani already changed Monday’s session timing from 4pm to 12 noon.

An official announcement said the timing was revised due to the joint sitting of the parliament.

The previous joint sitting, held last Wednesday, saw discussions on six points, but there was no mention of the terrorism issue despite demand for a discussion on the matter from various politicians, including those belonging to the ruling coalition.

On that day, the joint sitting passed the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Act, 2022, with an amendment.

The bill for the law was passed by the National Assembly and Senate around a month ago, empowering direct elections of the mayor and deputy mayor of Islamabad.

Adopting an amendment moved by Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmad Khan of the PML-N, Wednesday’s joint session omitted Clause 3 of the previously passed bill, reverting to indirect elections of mayor and deputy mayor of Islamabad’s municipal corporation.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2023