ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has summoned a joint session of parliament today, which is likely to take up three crucial bills that had been returned by the president without signature.

A statement by the Presidency said that the joint sitting will convene at 11am on Friday. Besides a bill pertaining to the establishment of the Daanish Uni­versity, two proposed laws regarding domestic violence and human rights will also be tabled in the house.

President Zardari, who is a top leader of the PPP, returned these bills last month despite their passage by the Senate and the National Assembly.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry told Dawn that the PPP’s concerns had been addressed by the government. He hoped all three bills would be cleared in the joint session. The PML-N leader said that he and Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar had met a PPP delegation, comprising Sherry Rehman, Naveed Qamar, and Farooq H. Naek, to assure the ruling partner that the proposed legislation would not impact the 18th Amendment, which had devolved education to provinces.

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“We have informed the PPP lawmakers that the Daanish Schools scheme is a flagship project of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif under which community schools and education institutions are being established in all four provinces… Besides, these educational institutions are also being set up in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir,” he added. The minister said a separate meeting was held with the leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, in which the PML-N also addressed their concerns.

According to Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, the government has already taken other allied parties into confidence on the matter and all three bills will be passed in the joint sitting.

PPP leader Sharmila Farooqui, however, said that the government could not table the same university bill that was rejected by President Zardari. She said her party expected that the new bill would address the concerns expressed by the PPP. “We believe that education is purely a provincial subject and the Centre should not interfere in it,” she added.

PTI chief whip in the National Assembly, Amir Dogar, said the opposition would oppose all three bills in the joint sitting.

President approves judges’ confirmation

Separately, President Zardari approved the confirmation of 27 additional judges of the Sindh, Lahore, and Peshawar high courts.

For the Sindh High Court (SHC), the statement said the president had approved the confirmation of all 10 additional judges recommended by the JCP.

President Zardari also approved a six-month extension in the tenures of Justices Khalid Hussain Shahani and Syed Faizul Hassan Shah of the SHC, the statement added.

For the Lahore High Court (LHC), President Zardari confirmed all 11 additional judges recommended by the JCP. He also approved a six-month extension in the tenure of Justice Tariq Mahmood Bajwa as an additional LHC judge, according to the statement.

For the Peshawar High Court (PHC), he approved the confirmation of six additional judges. He also approved a six-month extension in the tenure of Justices Farah Jamshed, Inamullah Khan, Sabitullah Khan and Aurangzeb as PHC’s additional judges.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2026