SCdeclares NRO unconstitutional
Upadated on: 16 Dec 09 10:21 PM
By Shakeel Karar
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has declared National reconciliation ordinance (NRO) unconstitutional, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry announced the verdict of 17 member larger bench of Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Supreme Court has declared NRO unconstitutional and all the cases which have been sidelined after NRO have revived once again. All the beneciaries of NRO have to face the trial.
Earlier, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said that the provisional decision regarding NRO petitions will be announced at 4:30 pm, after the completion of the hearing of the NRO petitions.
The larger bench of Supreme Court consisting of 17 members started hearing the petitions on NRO. Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said to care taker Attorney General to produce the original file of the Swiss cases. The care taker Attorney General responded that the government has no availability of the original file of the Swiss cases. Justice Javed Iqbal made remarks on the reply of care taker Attorney General that this is not the time when the things are being hidden and not being produced before the courts as was done in the past. The principal secretary of Presidential House explained in the Supreme Court that there is no original file of Swiss cases in the Presidential House. Chief Justice said on the reply of principal secretary of Presidential House that if there is no original file of Swiss cases in the Presidential House then it means that Presidential House has given the unconstitutional instructions. The principal secretary of Presidential House Salman farooqi said that the file regarding the Swiss cases belongs to the personal section which is being dealt by military secretary. The man assisting the court Justice (retd) Allah Nawaz said that that NRO is immoral and it was brought to safe guards the thieves and robbers. Justic Ramday said in his remarks that 8000 people were given immunity from criminal cases. The man assisting the court Shaiq Usmani said that it was not the right way to give immunity to people involved in the criminal cases.
34 POLITICIANS AMONG NRO BENEFICIARIES
The National Reconciliation Order's (NRO) beneficiaries include 34 politicians, Federal State Minister for Law Mohammad Afzal Sindhu told media.
The list also includes the major politicians of the country including Pakistan People's Party leader President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari and Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain. There were 248 beneficiaries include politicians, bureaucrats and three ambassadors, he added. The NRO beneficiaries include President Asif Ali Zardari, Begum Nusrat Bhutto, Rehman Malik, Chaudhry Shaukat Ali, haji Kabeer Ahmed, Jahangir badar, Malik Mushtaq Awan, rana Nazeer Ahmed, mian Mohammad Rasheed, Tariq Anees, Chaudhy Abdul Hameed, Mian Tariq Mehmood, Haji Mohammad NawazAnwar Saifullah Khan, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Sardar Masood Leghari, Agha Siraj Durrani, ftab Ahmed Sherpao, Ghani-ur-Rehman, Haji Gul Sher Khan, Habibullah Kundi, Mirbaz Khan Khatran, Farooq Sattar, Babar Ghuri, Ishrat-ul-Ibad, Noman Sehgal, imran farooq, Shoaib Bokhari, waseem Akhtar, Saleem Shehzad, Qamar Khalid Younis and Safdar Bakri. There are seven cases on President Asif Ali Zardari and 72 cases on MQM leader Altaf hussain, he added.
REACTION
There are no corruption cases on the leaders and activists Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Haider Abbas Rizvi told SAMAA. MQM has always faced the cases. We are prepared to face our cases in the courts and we also advise to all the beneficiaries of NRO to face the courts, he added.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal told SAMAA that PML-N have faced the cases. Therefore, we also advise Pakistan People's Party leaders to resign from their posts and face the cases in the courts, he added.
Pakistan Muslim league-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Mushahid Hussain told SAMAA that there is no one in the PML-Q who had been benefited from NRO. The government must sacrifice and the NRO beneficiary ministers must resign and face their cases in the courts, he added.
Haji Adeel, leader of Awami National Party said that there were many cases on the politicians who had not been proved since long and many of the politicians had faced imprisonment for years. It was the responsibility of the courts to decide cases immediately, he added.
Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, leader of Awami League said that NRO beneficiaries must face the cases in the courts. The government is unpopular in the masses and it has become weak, he added. SAMAA
