Opposition walks out as NA passes ICJ (Review and Re-consideration) Ordinance

The National Assembly Thursday passed International Court of Justice (Review and Re-consideration) Ordinance 2020, providing convicts right to appeal.

The opposition walked out of the assembly after staging a protest for being ignored by National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser.

The lawmakers gathered around the dais of the speaker and started sloganeering. However, Asad Qaiser told them that they should wait for their turn. 

Ahsan Iqbal of PML-N said the government wanted to get a bill related to Indian terrorist Kulbhushan Jadhav passed secretly. He said his party will resist the government's bid with full force. Law minister Farogh Naseem said Ahsan did not read the verdict of International Court of justice. "If we don’t take this step, we can face contempt of court, he said.  

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto questioned why giving NRO to Kulbhushan is so important. "You had to hire a lawyer against the Indian spy but you turned up as his counsel." 

In 2016, a serving commander of the Indian Navy and a spy of the India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), was arrested in Baluchistan. He was sentenced to death in 2017 however, the International Court of Justice directed Pakistan to review and reconsider the RAW agent's conviction in 2019. 

The other bills passed by the House were the Financial Institutions (Secured Transactions) (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Port Qasim Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Gwadar Port Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Bill, 2020; the Mutual Legal Assistance (Criminal Matters) (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Federal Medical Teaching Institutes Bill, 2020; the National Institute of Health (Re-organization) Bill, 2020; the Maritime Security Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the International Court of Justice (Review and Re-consideration) Bill, 2020]; the Covid-19 (Prevention of Hoarding) Bill, 2020; the SBP Banking Services Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Corporate Restructuring Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Pakistan Academy of Letters (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Muslim Family Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020] (Section 4); the Muslim Family Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020] (Section 7) and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2021.