Govt to enact law next week

Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shafique Ahmed yesterday said parliament is likely to pass a law on the ordinances separating the judiciary from the executive next week.
He said a bill on the ordinances promulgated by the immediate past caretaker government is now being examined by the standing committee on law ministry.
It will be tabled for passage through the legislature after the committee submits report Sunday.
The minister was speaking at a press briefing at the ministry.
The previous day, a High Court (HC) bench issued a suo moto rule on the government to explain under which legal authority the judicial magistrates are functioning now that the ordinances effecting separation of the judiciary are not in force.
Shafique said the Attorney General's Office would communicate to the HC that the government has taken measures to enact the bill on the ordinances.
The proposed law would approve with retrospective effect all actions that judicial magistrates had done since separation of the judiciary, and there is no room for misunderstanding here, he added.
The law minister also observed that people have already been reaping the benefits of the separation, as the judicial magistrates now do not have to concern themselves with anything other than their judicial functions.
In April 2007, the caretaker administration promulgated two ordinances amending the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) 1898 to separate the judiciary from the executive in line with the Supreme Court's directives.
The ordinances took effect on November 1 that year.
Despite being recommended by the special parliamentary committee, they were not ratified within the stipulated time limit and ceased to have effect on February 25.
Later though the government placed a bill on the CrPC (amendment) ordinances.
Replying to a query, Shafique yesterday said the border troops with links to the Pilkhana carnage can be tried under the Army Act, 1952, since BDR has been raised as a disciplined force.
However, he added, the decision whether to hold the trial under conventional law or special tribunal acts would be taken once the probe committees submit their reports.