Asif Ali Zardari today created a record by becoming the first Pakistani President to address a joint session of both houses of Parliament for the sixth time.
"We need to take some hard decisions and without delay. Delaying decisions do not avoid problems. They only invite crises," Zardari said in his address to the first joint session of both houses of Parliament after the May 11 general elections.
In an apparent reference to the strained relations between the PPP and the PML-N in past decades, 57-year-old Zardari said politicians "need to learn the truth about past mistakes in order not to repeat them".
This was his record sixth and the last address to a joint session as he has said he will not seek re-election when his term ends in September.
According to constitutional provisions, the President has to address a joint session of Parliament at the beginning of the first session of the National Assembly after a general election as well as the first sitting of the National Assembly in every parliamentary year.
The Constitution further says the President can summon either House or both Houses in a joint session "as he thinks fit".
For the first time, the Pakistan People's Party was not in power when Zardari addressed the joint session of Parliament. The PPP came to power after the 2008 polls but it was routed by the PML-N in the general elections.
The PML-N staged a protest and boycotted the joint session during Zardari's last address.
