As the NRO-haunted executive tries to take a legislative shield against a “hostile” judiciary by enacting the Contempt of Court (Amended) Bill 2102, lawyers tend to blame the Supreme Court of Pakistan for the unprecedented legislation.
A brief survey conducted by Pakistan Today in the Sindh High Court (SHC) revealed that lawyers, a major power behind the movement for the reinstatement of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, are critical of the apex court for what they called providing an opportunity to the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to provide for a permanent shield to corrupt politicians.
A senior lawyer said the government, both in centre and provinces, was now in a better position to legally protect or defend corrupt public office-bearers, making them unaccountable before the law.
A senior retired public prosecutor said the contempt bill was against the constitution and was tabled for providing protection to the elite class, especially the corrupt rulers.
Only poor people, he said, would suffer at the hands of government officials who after the bill may not be answerable to anyone.
Sardar Abdul Wahab Baloch said contempt of court law was being changed just to protect the prime minister from possible adverse orders.
He said parliament should take interest in introducing legislation for the public interest instead of protecting some individuals.
Such amendments were being introduced when courts were taking action against the executive for not obeying the constitutional directions of the court, Baloch said.
He added that such amendments were contradictory to the basic structure of the constitution and parliament could not pass such legislation that aimed to protect some individuals.
Meanwhile, lawyers observed a complete strike on Thursday in the Sindh High Court and other courts in Hyderabad, Larkana and Sukkur on a call by the Sindh Bar Council (SBC) and Karachi Bar Association against the new contempt of court law.
Addressing lawyers at the Karachi Bar, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf chief Imran Khan criticized the parliamentarians and said those who passed the contempt bill were shameless and did not know the definition of democracy.
