NA panel gives go-ahead to move 'contempt of parliament bill'

FOOLS_NIGHTMARE · May 3, 2023

Rana Qasim Noon says law of contempt of parliament is need of hour.
He adds draft will be prepared in a few days after consultations.
Committee chairman says law would strengthen “toothless” parliament.

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s (NA) Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges has given the go-ahead to table a “contempt of parliament bill” on the floor of the House soon, reported The News on Wednesday.

The decision was taken by the lawmakers during an in-camera meeting of the NA panel on Tuesday.

The meeting was open for the media when it began but the committee chairman Rana Qasim Noon decided to go in-camera when the panel started discussing the draft of contempt of parliament bill.

The committee took up the privileges motions of the National Assembly members besides discussion on the draft of the contempt of parliament bill.

The meeting was attended by committee members Muhammad Sajjad, Chaudhry Armaghan Subhani, Ramesh Lal, Makhdoom Syed Sami-ul-Hassan Gillani and Sardar Riaz Mahmood Khan Mazari. MNAs Sheikh Rohail Asghar and Mohsin Dawar also attended the meeting as movers of the privilege motion.

Later, talking to media persons after the meeting, Noon said the that the law of contempt of parliament is the need of the hour, adding that the lawmakers were working on the bill for a long time to make the National Assembly effective. He said the draft will be prepared in a few days after consultations are held with legal experts.

Noon said that the law would apply to anyone who would insult parliament, and the existing “toothless” parliament would be strengthened.

Besides discussion on the proposed bill, the committee also took up the issue raised by Asghar on the statement about Quaid-e-Azam by anchorperson Orya Maqbool Jan.

The committee pended the question of privilege with the direction that Jan should be blacked out by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra).

Pemra was directed that all programmes of Jan should be taken off-air with a report to the committee. The committee also directed that a penalty should be imposed by the PTA, FIA and Pemra on the anchorperson besides taking action against him as per rules and regulations with a report to the committee within 15 days.

On a question of privilege raised by Dr Nafisa Shah about the Parliament Lodges maintenance, the committee directed the CDA chairman to resolve the issues and report within 15 days.