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Senate holds special session to mark Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Upper House
March 15, 2023

The Senate began its special commemorative session at the Parliament House in Islamabad on Wednesday morning with Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani in the chair. 

The special commemorative session marks the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Senate of Pakistan.

At the outset, the Chairman highlighted the role of the Upper House in strengthening parliamentary democracy in Pakistan. He announced that the current session will continue for three days.   

In his address, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said the relationship between the federation and provinces has been defined in the Constitution, which must be respected in letter and spirit.

Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori stressed the need for reposing trust in the people of Pakistan to forge national unity in the country.

Balochistan Governor Malik Abdul Wali Khan Kakar commended the role of Pakistan in giving equality to all the federating units of the country.

 Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Haji Ghulam Ali said the state of Pakistan should fulfill its promises made with the people of erstwhile tribal areas. He said a sense of deprivation of the people of merged districts must be addressed.

Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan said we have to respect the Constitution and there is a need to reset our priorities for the sake of the country. He said unity and harmony amongst the people of Pakistan provides strength to the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, who are facing oppression at the hands of Indian forces.

Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said the Senate has served as a critical check on the power of the executive and has been instrumental in shaping legislative policies that had a profound impact on the lives of our citizens. 

Chairman Pakistan Bankers Association and President Habib Bank Muhammad Aurangzeb said cooperative rehabilitation and digitization of the economy need urgent reforms to allow and encourage struggling companies to successfully rehabilitate themselves; otherwise the grim state of our non-performing loans will continue to worsen. He said in relation to digitization of the economy, we have made commendable legislation. He, however, said an urgent up-gradation of our legislation framework is the need of the hour.

Representative of Pakistan Bar Council Hassan Raza Pasha said everyone talks of the judiciary's intervention into the affairs of the parliament and the executive. He said we should resolve our problems on the floor of the House instead of taking them to courts. He said the legal fraternity has always rendered sacrifices for the sake of democracy and we will continue to offer the same in future. He urged the political leaders to come forward to save the country, while lawyers will extend all possible support in this regard. He said we have invited leadership of political parties for a national dialogue to steer the country out of present crises. He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has accepted our invite, while we are waiting for a reply from PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

Those, who spoke on the occasion, include Syed Nayyar Bukhari, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli, Gohar Zahid Malik, Ahsan Bakhtawari, Syed Amjad Ali Zaidi, Imamuddin Shouqeen, Wasim Sajjad, Tariq Yousaf, Wamiq Zuberi, Dr. Khurram Tariq, Senator Irfan-ul-Haque Siddiqui, Kauda Babar, Masood Kausar, Kashif Anwar, Rafique Rajwana and Khalida Ateeb.

Senate Committee of the Whole and the Senate will now meet again tomorrow at 10.30am.

Meanwhile, the Advisory Committee of the Parliament to oversee the preparations for Golden Jubilee celebrations of the 1973 Constitution, in its 4th meeting held in Islamabad today with Convener of the Committee, Senator Mian Raza Rabbani approved media strategy for the celebrations.  

Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Marriyum Aurangzeb, while sharing details of the media strategy to cover the commemoration, said that all departments of the ministry including PTV, Radio Pakistan, DEMP, PID, EP Wing, PEMRA has planned certain activities related to the celebrations.