The government benches remained empty during the address of President Arif Alvi to the joint session of the parliament, 24NewsHD TV channel reported on Thursday.

Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf kept on directing the lawmakers to be seated while President Alvi continued his speech without taking into account the lack of attention of the members. 

However, PTI dissidents showed their presence. President Dr Arif Alvi summoned the session in line with articles 54(1) and 56(3), as per the President House’s notification.

The majority of the members of the National Assembly skipped the session while the rest preferred gossip to the presidential address.