Dissolution of NRO By Supreme Court
On 16 December 2009, the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared NRO unconstitutional. A 17-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, declared the ordinance null and void. The Supreme Court also said that all the cases disposed of because of the controversial ordinance now stand revived as of 5 Oct 2007, position. The court opined that the NRO "seems to be against national interests thus it violates the provisions of the constitution". Western diplomats subsequently expressed concern that Pakistan could face further instability due to this ruling, especially if Mr Zardari's political opponents try to remove him from office. However, the verdict was widely welcomed in Pakistan.
After this verdict, Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau asked the Interior Ministry to bar 248 people, including Interior Minister of Pakistan Rehman Malik, from leaving the country. The following day an arrest warrant was issued against Malik. Defence Minister of Pakistan Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar was stopped from departing the country on a trip to China at Islamabad airport. Writing in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, columnist Cyril Almeida stated "It's chaos out there. Nobody knows what's going on. Everyone is trying to work out the ramifications of the court order."
The political crises deepened as the government was paralysed and the country seemed to slide towards a coup with it being increasingly unclear whether the elected politicians, the judiciary or somebody else was running the country. The extent of the crises led to speculation whether the Army had any role to play in this. The situation was described as a 'creeping coup'. Asma Jahangir chairperson of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan was quoted as saying 'It's complete (judicial) control now, the issue is whether the (democratic) system is going to pack up again.' In an editorial in Dawn she criticised the judiciary and called the judgement a 'witchhunt'. She also remarked 'long-term effects of the judgment could also be counter-productive; perpetrators are often viewed as victims if justice is not applied in an even-handed manner and if administered in undue haste with overwhelming zeal.'
The scene is still seems to be vague. In an hearing of NRO Case, the supreme court was told that government was looking for a lawyer upon which it could trust to run the government's side while chief justice of Pakistan has asked the government to adopt all necessary measures otherwise the Prime Minister of Pakistan has to appear and proceed the case himself.
Read more about this topic: National Reconciliation Ordinance
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