The National Reconciliation Ordinance is a law introduced by the Pakistani government to address the social tensions within the country. However, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has criticised the impact of the NRO. In order to implement the NRO, the National Parliament of Pakistan must pass a law by November 29, 2009.
Benazir Bhutto
In the wake of Benazir Bhutto’s disappearance and imprisonment, the Musharraf government has refused to drop the charges against her. Bhutto fled to Britain and Dubai in exile after the court denied her demand for the charges against her to dropped. She faced with standing arrest warrants if she returned to Pakistan.
As a result, the National Reconciliation Ordinance was promulgated by President Pervez Musharraf in 2007. Its stated purpose is to promote national reconciliation by removing vestiges of victimization and national vendetta. Benazir Bhutto’s exiled status also removed with the promulgation of the Ordinance, allowing her to return to Pakistan on 18 October and contest the mid-January elections.
While Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistani government have not reached an agreement on the national reconciliation ordinance, Bhutto has dropped her threats to walk out of the elections. Despite this, the opposition parties still opposed the reconciliation ordinance and challenged Gen Musharraf’s candidacy in the Supreme Court. However, Bhutto’s return to Pakistan marred by a suicide attack on her motorcade. Later that year, in December, Bhutto killed in a similar attack.
The National Reconciliation Ordinance also paved the way for the removal of the ban on the prosecution of public officials accused of crimes committed between 1986 and 1999. However, the federal government and its acting attorney general Shah Khawar didn’t back the ordinance and instead defended the incumbents. The federal government hired Advocate Kamal Azfar to argue against declaring the National Reconciliation Ordinance unconstitutional.
Benazir worked with Democratic Members of Congress to broker a deal with Musharraf that included amnesty for Benazir and Asif Zardari and thousands of other people accused of corruption. The deal helped by Democratic Senator John Kerry, who helped convince Musharraf to sign the National Reconciliation Ordinance. In addition to the Democratic Senator, Bhutto accompanied Shahid Ahmed Khan in his office. The latter had a meeting with Holocaust survivor Tom Lantos, an American Jewish senator.
After Benazir Bhutto’s return to Pakistan, the NRO challenged in the Supreme Court. In response, Musharraf imposed a “state of emergency” and fired top judges. Two months after her return, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated.
Cases against PPP chairperson and her husband
Congress has introduced several investigations into the PPP chairperson and her husband. Some of these investigations are related to allegations that the PPP chairperson misused public funds to buy a diamond necklace worth $175,000 and laundered money. The PPP has denied all the charges against its chairperson and her husband. It has argue that the Swiss authorities were misle by false evidence.
Violations
The Supreme Court ruled that the NRO is unconstitutional and void ab initio because it violates various constitutional provisions. This ruling also says that the laws passed by the NRO violate the fundamental rights of citizens. The petitions filed against the NRO point out these violations.
The NRO, or National Reconciliation Ordinance, introduced in 2006 in Pakistan. Under this law, those who had committed crimes could testify against those who committed the crimes and request amnesty from prosecution. It also promised the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission that would acknowledge torture victims and investigate the military coups and civil removals. While these promises were laudable, the NRO has become a thorny issue for Pakistan’s government.
Pakistan has long plagued with politically motivated prosecutions. The NRO is a major step towards national reconciliation and a transition from a military dictatorship to a democracy. It was negotiated with the aid of the United States, which has been critical to Pakistan’s transition from military dictatorship to democracy.
The NRO was declared unconstitutional by a 17-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on December 16, 2009. The court order the government to reopen all cases that were withdraw under NRO. It also wrote to Swiss authorities asking them to reinstate graft cases filed against former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. In response, the federal government filed a review petition against the judgment, but it was not taken up due to vacancies in the apex court.
While the government is trying to tackle corruption in the country, past attempts to curb the problem have undermined by political abuse of power. Anti-corruption agencies were use as political tools and accountability processes threatened. Furthermore, previous efforts to curb corruption were lacking in political backing and did not involve other parts of the national integrity system.
Despite this, the government has not abandoned the NRO beneficiaries. It is still working hard to regain confidence in its top judiciary. As a result, the Supreme Court’s ruling refuses to legitimize corruption in Pakistan. It restores public confidence in the country’s top judiciary.
Unconstitutionality
The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ruled that the National Reconciliation Ordinance is unconstitutional. The ruling says that the NRO is against the interests of the country and that it violates the country’s constitution. In addition, the judgment states that the NRO’s removal of cases from Swiss courts is also unconstitutional. The court further states that the former Attorney General Malik Qayum had no authority to write the letter to the Swiss court. The verdict also asks provincial governments to cooperate with the courts in NRO cases.
Although the Supreme Court bench limited in its jurisdiction, it is require to rule on provisions that are contrary to the constitution. There is a problem with the NRO judgment, however. Because it only focuses on certain aspects of the NRO, the ruling does not cover all cases involving the NRO.
The NRO’s Article 62 was promulgated in 2007 by Pervez Musharraf’s military dictator. The law later discredited as a dead letter. Its provisions were based on subjective and religion-based criteria, similar to those used by Iran’s Sharia courts. This means that it is impossible to use Article 62 to impose punishments based on religious or subjective criteria.
The NRO gave General Musharraf a reprieve from the political crisis, but his credibility suffered as a result. Afterwards, he refused to reach a deal with the opposition and vowed to keep them out of power forever. However, he did eventually agree to a deal with Benazir Bhutto, and declared her innocent of all corruption charges. As a result, the NRO gave Musharraf a chance to remove Benazir Bhutto from jail, and even landed in Saudi Arabia.
The NRO has a number of unconstitutional provisions. Among these tax evasion and the creation of black money, which is basically wealth that not taxed. In fact, one economist estimated that black money in Pakistan amounted to 40% of GDP in 1996. Both of these are harmful to the economy because they cause a budget deficit and force governments to increase the money supply.
