Contempt of court bill 2012: Passage of bill took 68 minutes, states FAFEN

ISLAMABAD: According to Free and Fair Election Network’s (FAFEN) session report on Sunday, the Contempt of Court Bill 2012 was rushed through the 44th session of the National Assembly ahead of the National Reconciliation Ordinance hearing in the Supreme Court. According to the report, the bill took only an hour and eight minutes to be passed in the assembly. The 13-article bill, which exempts public office holders from contempt of the apex court, was passed with a simple majority present in the house. A total of 150 MNAs, including 122 treasury and 22 opposition members, were present during the passage of the bill. The session, on the whole, lasted for around thirteen hours and five minutes for six sittings from July 6-13. Each sitting started with an average delay of an hour too, according to the report. Other than the passage of the contempt bill, the house also passed Special Economic Zones Bill 2012.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2012.