'Ritual' NA session on Covid-19 impact gets under way today.

Byline: Amir Wasim

ISLAMABAD -- The National Assembly is all set to meet on Monday (today) after a gap of nearly two months merely to complete a formality of holding a debate on the prevailing situation in the country due to spread of Covid-19 as the government and the opposition have already reached an understanding that no other routine business, including legislation, will be carried out in the current session.

The government has convened the physical session of the assembly on the demand of the opposition parties which will be held under strict adherence of health guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for ensuring safety of the members and the staff.

The visitors' galleries will remain closed during the sittings and only journalists will be allowed to sit in the Press Gallery and Press Lounge.

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani has convened the session of the upper house of the parliament on Tuesday (tomorrow) on the requisition of the opposition parties.

The NA session is being held at a time when Speaker Asad Qaiser has quarantined himself after he tested positive for coronavirus on April 28. Besides the speaker, a couple of MNAs and a number of staff members of the National Assembly and the Senate secretariats have tested positive for Covid-19 in the last two days, raising fears among lawmakers, who were already divided over the issue of convening the sessions of the assembly and the Senate at a time when the country is witnessing a sharp rise in the confirmed cases of Covid-19.

It was due to different viewpoints on the issue within the parties that the leadership had told their respective legislators that attendance in the upcoming sessions of both the houses of the parliament was not mandatory.

Interestingly, Deputy Senate Chairman Saleem Mandviwala, who belongs to the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), on Sunday issued a statement suggesting that the session requisitioned by his own party should be deferred after detection of coronavirus in some...