In light of President Arif Alvi’s unresponsiveness over calling a session of the National Assembly, the government has decided to bypass him entirely and call the session through the speaker.

According to sources, the new session is likely to be called on February 29. The ministry of parliamentary affairs will send a summary for the session to be called to Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf instead of the president.

The new National Assembly has to be called to session within 21 days of the general elections. The date falls on February 29 for the current assembly.

The ministry had forwarded a summary for the session to be summoned to Alvi four days ago.

However, Alvi has not signed the summary so far. Media reports have claimed that Alvi is waiting for Sunni Ittehad Council’s reserved seats to be notified before he calls the session.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan has still not notified all of the reserved seats for minorities and women in the lower house of Parliament.