Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Zubair Mehmood Hayat, Chief of Air Chief Mujahid Anwar Khan and Chief of Naval Staff Zafar Mehmood Abbasi were present in the Visitors' Gallery. The provincial governors and chief ministers except chief minister Sindh attended the session. Prime Minister Imran Khan who, once said on the floor of the house that a handful of opposition could not browbeat him through sloganeering and bullying, remained calm despite dozens of extremely infuriated opposition lawmakers standing right in front of his chair, chanting full-throated slogans of 'Chor Niazi Chor (Niazi is a thief).'
Amid noisy protests by the opposition parties and scuffles, President Alvi continued his speech while passing remarks about opposition MPs, saying, "They're not ready to listen to the good things done by the ruling PTI government."
"Hey, listen to me guys...I'm here for you but you people are making noise, which is not fair," the President remarked during his speech to woo the protesting MPs. As expected, the opposition members strongly protested against non-issuance of production orders of their jailed colleagues i.e. Asif Ali Zardari, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Rana Sanullah, and Khawaja Saad Rafique.
Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif entered the hall amid desk thumping by his party lawmakers. The moment President Alvi started his speech, the opposition lawmakers rushed towards the Speaker's dais and started chanting 'go Niazi go' slogans. The opposition members constantly targeted the Prime Minister, but he kept smiling throughout the speech of the President by putting the headphone on his ears in order to give an impression as if he doesn't care what the opposition says about him.
It was quite surprising that the lawmakers belonging to opposition kept calling PM Khan a thief - a slogan which PM Khan had been using against his political rivals before and after coming into power.
As saying goes that 'everything is fair in love and war,' the opposition aunties holding the framed photographs of their jailed party leaders (all of them are in jail on corruption allegations) - remained in the forefront, and kept chanting slogans against PM Khan.
Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari did not attend the session while a large number of MNAs and senators also skipped the sessions for reasons best known to them. Another issue which the journalists sitting in the press gallery kept asking one another was why the President was not seated in the centre unlike the past.