ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Monday sought National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser’s permission to use the Lower House’s hall to conduct a Senate session.
In a letter addressed to the speaker, Sanjrani noted that with the current number of Senate members, it will be impossible to follow the health advisory while holding the session at its designated space.
“The Chamber of the Senate of Pakistan, given the number of its members, does not allow adopting any physical distancing measures for holding the session,” he wrote, adding, “Hence, it becomes almost impossible to hold the session of the Senate of Pakistan in the existing chamber and follow the health advisories simultaneously.”
Sanjrani further said that the Covid-19 crisis has created unique challenges all over the world which calls for legislative actions on urgent relief packages for communities in need.
He recalled that the Senate chamber was used to hold National Assembly sessions when a fire destroyed the Lower House’s chamber in 1993.
“Those were extraordinary circumstances and today, again there are extraordinary circumstances wherein one House of the Parliament cannot hold a session in its chamber,” the Senate chairman said.
“The National Assembly Chamber may kindly be made available to be used for sitting of the Senate of Pakistan to assume its constitutional role while taking all precautionary measures in view of the health advisories.”
Sanjrani said he is certain that “together we will be successful in taking measures to protect the citizenry and fight this pandemic effectively.”
