Senate body reviews privileges bill
By Ali Imran

ISLAMABAD—A Sub-Committee of the Senate Standing committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights met here Friday at the Parliament House under the chairmanship of its Convener Senator S.M.Zafar to consider the Private Member’s Bill “The Parliament and its Member’s Privileges bill, 2003”, introduced by senator Ch.Muhammad Anwar Bhinder in the Senate on December 8, 2003.
The Sub-Committee discussed in detail various aspects of the proposed Law on Privileges with particular reference to similar laws which exist in other democracies of the world like USA, UK, Australia, India etc. Comparing the proposed law with those models, it was emphasized that care and caution must be exercised to ensure that all pillars of the state like the executive and the judiciary must exist in complete harmony with one another.
The Members of the Sub-Committee debated the issue whether the Parliament should have a codified and well defined Law on Privileges or will it continue working with the same practice as we have it now i.e. going by the Parliamentary precedents and conventions which, according to one school of thought, have same connotations and bindings as written law.
In the latter case, it was apprehended that the Parliament may enter into conflict with the courts on the question of interpretation of the proposed law, particularly in case if the contemnor gets away with the offence. Some Members opined that such a situation would definitely lower the esteem of the elected parliament in the eyes of the electorate.
The Convener of the Sub-Committee while considering the draft of the proposed Law asked the members to give their suggestions in the next meeting of the Sub-Committee. He also commended the hard work done by senator Ch.Muhammad Bhinder in examining and comparing similar laws with a view to judge their relevance to our context.
The meeting was attended, among others, by senators Ch.Muhammad Anwar Bhinder, Farooq Hamid Naek and Kamran Murtaza.