A bill aimed at shielding top leaders from contempt charges and curbing the Supreme Court's efforts to push Premier Raja Pervez Ashraf into reopening graft cases

SEE PAGE 5 COL 5 been pushing the PPP-led government to revive the cases against the president since December 2009, when it annulled a graft amnesty issued by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf that benefited Zardari andover8,000others.

The government has refused to act, saying the president enjoys immunity within Pakistan and abroad.

Ashraf has adopted the same stance as Gilani, saying the government cannot ask the Swiss authorities to reopen the cases as long as Zardari holds office.

If parliament passes the draft contempt of court law, approved by the cabinet on Wednesday, it will replace the erstwhile Contempt of Court Act 1976 and the contempt of court ordinances of 2003 and 2004.

Under the proposed law, if an accused or a person convicted of contempt files an appeal, the original order will remain suspended till the matter is disposed of.

It further states that any “true averment made in good faith and temperate language for initiation of action” against a judge “shall not amount to contempt of court."

The draft has to be passed in both houses.

FROM PAGE 20 against President Asif Ali Zardari was set to be introduced in a special session of Pakistan parliament yesterday.

The government intends to get the Contempt of Court Bill 2012 passed by the National Assembly and the Senate before the Supreme Court takes up the issue of reviving the corruption cases against Zardari on July 12.

The special session of the National Assembly or lower house of parliament was scheduled to begin yesterday while a session of the Senate or upper house has been convened from Monday.

The Contempt of Court Bill provides blanket immunity to top government functionaries for executive actions.

It can also be used to launch disciplinary proceedings against a judge without such a move coming under the ambit of contempt.

Senior Pakistan People's Party leader Raja Pervez Ashraf became the Prime Minister last month after his predecessor Yousuf Raza Gilani was disqualified by a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry for refusing to approach Swiss authorities to reopen the graft cases against Zardari.

The Supreme Court has