ISLAMABAD: A landmark government bill to create a state-funded but independent national human rights commission completed its parliamentary sail on Friday, overcoming an opposition rumpus in the National Assembly at the end of a brief spring session.

The final passage of the National Commission for Human Rights Bill after a shuttle between the two houses of parliament over the past few months came more than three years after the cabinet decided to set up such a body to comply with what the document described as constitutional and international obligations and the government’s agenda to protect human rights.

The second National Assembly vote on the bill -- necessitated by some amendments made in its first draft by the Senate last month -- came amid the fourth day of riotous, noisy protests by the lawmakers of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N in a party campaign against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, which was cut short by the prorogation of the house after only seven working days of a 10-day session.

The bill now requires only a formal signature of consent by President Asif Ali Zardari to become law, which will empower the federal government to appoint the nine-member National Commission for Human Rights under a procedure involving a public notice to invite suggestions, consultations between the prime minister and the leader of opposition in the National Assembly and approval by a bipartisan parliamentary committee before a presidential confirmation.

As in previous three sittings, PML-N members continued chanting “go Gilani, go” and other slogans as well as some crude booing throughout about 50 minutes of proceedings to press their demand that the prime minister resign because of his conviction last week by a Supreme Court bench for contempt of court -- for not writing to Swiss authorities to reopen disputed money-laundering charges against President Zardari on ground of a presidential immunity against prosecution.

Ignoring calls for order from Speaker Fehmida Mirza and a reminder from Law and Justice Minister Farooq H. Naek that the court had not disqualified Mr Gilani and that the prime minister must exhaust his legal remedies against the conviction, the protesters threw around torn papers, displayed placards bearing anti-Gilani or anti-government slogans, and crowded the prime minister’s desk and a whole row of ministerial seats.

But the law of diminishing returns seemed to be hitting the protest as some senior PML-N members seemed less interested in slogan-chanting by activists, with leader of opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan only watching or directing them from a distant back bench.

The law minister accused the protesters of seeking to derail the democratic process and said the PML-N would be responsible if it really happened.

The minister, who had moved two resolutions passed by the house – minus the PML-N -- on Thursday reposing “complete confidence” in the prime minister and demanding a new province in south Punjab, said the PPP would consult coalition allies about a demand for the creation of a new province comprising Hazara division of Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa province.

Commission composition, powers

The National Commission of Human Rights, according to the bill, will consist of a chairperson who has been or is qualified to be a judge of the Supreme Court, or has “demonstrable knowledge of, or practical experience in matters relating to human rights”, one member each from the provinces, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Islamabad Capital Territory with demonstrable knowledge of, or practical experience in, matters relating to human rights”, the chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women, one member from minority communities and a secretary to be appointed by the commission. The total membership of the commission must have at least two women.

Its functions will include inquiring into violations of human rights or abetment at its own initiative or on a complaint, intervening into court proceedings on allegations of violation by seeking to become a party in the case, visiting jails or other places of detention, review factors – including acts of terrorism – that inhibit enjoyment of human rights, spreading human rights literacy, submitting independent reports to the government on the state of human rights in Pakistan and developing a “national plan of action for the promotion and protection of human rights”.