What’s NRO; Who Were Its Beneficiaries; How Was NRO Quashed?

There is nothing more notorious in Pakistan that the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). The term NRO simply means safe passage given to the most corrupt people (mainly politicians).

NRO came into existence on October 5, 2007 by its creator the then military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

It is said that NRO paved the way for the return of Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) late chairperson Benazir Bhutto on October 18. Cases of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leaders and activists were also quashed with the help of NRO.

The late PPP chairperson and her husband Asif Ali Zardari, had a number of cases against them in and outside Pakistan. According to the PPP supporters, many of these cases were manufactured to use as leverage against the party.

As reports suggest number of such cases against the PPP leadership had been initiated under the infamous Saifur Rehman commission which was formed under the second tenure of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Former president Pervez Musharraf promulgated the NRO for his own political survival. It was actually a tit-for-tat strategy by the former military ruler. The NRO was constituted to benefit the political leaders of Pakistan and it was first negotiated between Benazir Bhutto and Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf. With the help of NRO all corruption and criminal cases of the PPP and the MQM leadership were dropped and a lean chit to given to them. The most prominent case dropped was the Swiss money laundering cases against Benazir and her husband Asif Ali Zardari.

The crimes done in the period between January 1, 1986, and October 12, 1999 were dropped under NRO.

It is said that a number of powerful national and international personalities played a pivotal role for making the NRO.

However, as expected, the law drew more criticism than appreciation on the bases that it benefitted a class of people in violation of Article 25 of the Constitution.

NRO was challenged

Former PPP leader Dr Mubashar Hasan, former Jamaat-e-Islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Shahbaz Sharif challenged the NRO in the Supreme Court as it was against the Constitution.

The NRO was also placed before the National Assembly (NA). The assembly’s standing committee took up the issue on October 29 and 30, 2009. The NA finally refused to endorse the controversial law NRO.

While hearing petition against the NRO, the apex court issued a notice to the federal government. Acting attorney general Shah Khawar refused to support the ordinance. “That the federation believes in the supremacy of the Constitution of 1973 and the Parliament. That the National Reconciliation Ordinance was promulgated by the previous regime and I am under instructions not to defend it,” Khawar submitted the federal government’s stance in writing before the Supreme Court.

The federal government later took a U-turn and hired Advocate Kamal Azfar for fighting the NRO case in the Supreme Court. Azfar argued that the court should not rule against the NRO claiming it would destabilize the system.

After hearing all the stakeholders, a 17-judge full bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, declared the NRO unconstitutional on December 16, 2009.

Consequently, the court directed the government to reopen all cases quashed under the NRO and write a letter to the Swiss authorities for restoring the graft cases against Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Asif Ali Zardari.

A review petition against the apex court judgment was also dismissed on Nov 25, 2011.