.:: SAMAA - NRO bubble to burst tonight

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The duration of the National Reconciliation Ordinance ends today (Saturday, November 28, 2009). A number of politicians who are among NRO beneficiaries are ready to face cases closed under the disputed ordinance.

Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah has said that none of the cases were closed by cheating and the cases would be reopened on court orders.

The 14-member bench of the Supreme Court declared the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) and all the steps taken through it, unconstitutional. But the government was given a concession that if it wants, it can give the federal ordinance and the provincial ordinance, which benefitted under the PCO, the form of a law within 120 days and 90 days respectively.

The NRO is considered the most important of all of these ordinances, through which the cases filed against the President Asif Ali Zardari and other important officials, were closed.

The NRO could not be be approved in the Parliament and the 120-day duration given by the Supreme Court is ending tomorrow. As a result, this ordinance is no longer a law.

There is a debate going on about whether the cases closed under NRO will be reopened or not. Some legal experts thing that these cases will become active as soon as the NRO will cease to be effective whereas some others are of the view that the closed cases cannot be reopened. Acting Attorney General Khawar Shah said that the relief from any law cannot be taken back in case the law does not exists anymore.

The Supreme Court is yet to hear two petitions against NRO whereas there are many petitions seeking NRO benefits as well as against thr NRO beneficiaries.

The National Reconciliation Order's (NRO) beneficiaries include 34 politicians, Federal State Minister for Law Mohammad Afzal Sindhu told media Saturday.

SO WHO ARE ITS BENEFICIARIES?

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.

Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that if there was no NRO, Nawaz Sharif would not have been in Pakistan and Pervaiz Musharraf had not left Pakistan.

PUNJAB CM ADVISOR RESIGNS ON NRO

Punjab chief minister's advisor and former bureaucrat Saeed Mehdi resigned after his name was published among NRO beneficiaries. He tendered his resignation during the meeting of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. Mian Nawaz Sharif presided over the meeting.

Mehdi was alleged to be involved in corruption as a chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA). He rejected all the allegations against him as baseless. Mehdi said that he will not get any government position until his name is cleared out of such allegations.

NRO BENEFICIARIES SHOULD FOLLOW SAEED MEHDI'S STEP: SHARIF

All NRO beneficiaries should follow the footsteps of Saeed Mehdi said the PML-N Chairman Nawaz Sharif while talking to the media Friday.

Punjab chief minister's advisor and former bureaucrat Saeed Mehdi resigned after his name was published among NRO beneficiaries.

Mehdi was alleged to be involved in corruption as a chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA). He rejected all the allegations against him as baseless. Mehdi said that he will not get any government position until his name is cleared out of such allegations.

Sharif also said that the media should give the NRO argument a better angle. He said, "Debating and arguing suppress the real issues."

"The country faces issues other than politics," he said. "If the constitution is followed, then the democracy will not face any threat."

He further said,"The real problems are different and they are not given any attention. The establishment of peace and economic success should be our priority. Alongwith the NRO beneficiaries, the names of those persons should also be exposed, who got their debts written off." He said that he told the Prime Minister the same thing in Nawabshah, and asked him to get the money recovered. Those who usurped land should also be held accountable.

He also said that things are no better than how they were in the Musharraf era. There needs to be more work done to get agreement on the Balochistan package.

"Although the government and the Prime Minister want progress, until Akbar Bugti's case is not solved, the Balochis will not be pacified," he said.

He also said that the problem of the missing persons is also very crucial. SAMAA