October 16, 2008	Thursday	Shawwal 16, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Oct 15: The federal cabinet on Wednesday approved the draft of a bill for the establishment of an independent commission on human rights and decided to undo the changes made in the Legal Practitioners Act of 1973 by former president Gen Pervez Musharraf to curtail powers of lawyers’ bodies at the time of imposition of emergency in the country last year.

The cabinet, which met under Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, also reviewed the law and order situation, with particular reference to in-camera joint session of parliament.

A cabinet member told Dawn that the government had decided to constitute a National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) in the light of the UN General Assembly resolution requiring member states to establish independent human rights bodies.

The draft bill, prepared by the Ministry of Law, will soon be presented before parliament to fulfil the international obligation.

Giving details of the proposed law, he said the NCHR would be headed by a serving or retired judge of the Supreme Court or high court and it would consist of members of the four provinces.

Women and minorities would also be represented on the body. He said there would be four women and four minority members from each province.

According to the draft bill, the commission will have powers to review laws dealing with human rights and suggest changes in them. Moreover, every citizen will have the right to register a complaint with the commission in case of human rights violations. The commission members will also be authorised to inspect jails. Constitution of human rights courts in all provinces was also proposed.

The minister said the NCHR members would also coordinate with civil society organisations monitoring human rights situation. He said that such commissions were already functioning in 54 countries.

About the decision to undo the amendments made by Gen Pervez Musharraf in the Legal Practitioners Act, he said it was being done on the demand of lawyers’ community. The former military ruler had introduced the amendments, drastically curtailing powers of bar councils in disciplinary matters relating to advocates.

The Musharraf government had changed the law when, during lawyers’ movement for the reinstatement of deposed judges, bar councils cancelled membership of government-backed lawyers and banned their entry into bar rooms. After the change, powers to take disciplinary action against lawyers were given to judges of higher courts. The bar councils had rejected these changes and continued to take disciplinary action against lawyers, resulting in a serious judicial conflict.

“The purpose of undoing the amendments is to restore the Legal Practitioners Act, 1973, to its original position,” says an official handout. It says the new ordinance will be submitted to the president for promulgation.

Asked why the government was planning to undo the changes through an ordinance, and not through a proper legislation, the minister said the government did not want to prolong the matter.

According to the handout, the prime minister constituted a committee to identify measures for promoting government efforts relating to the agriculture sector. The committee comprises Information Minister Sherry Rehman, Minister for Ports and Shipping Naveed Qamar, Minister for Agriculture Nazar Gondal, Minister for Local Government Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Minister for Population Welfare Humayun Kurd, Minister for Safron Najmuddin Khan, Adviser to Prime Minister on Industries and Production Manzoor Wattoo and Special Assistant to PM on Finance Hina Rabbani Khar.

The prime minister and all cabinet members lauded Minister for Information Sherry Rehman’s “successful presentation” of government’s point of view on national security in the joint session.

The cabinet approved a summary moved by the Ministry of Defence for signing of a memorandum of understanding with Nigeria on defence cooperation.