The National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO;

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' President of Pakistan, General

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of t ...

, on 5 October 2007.'Corrupt' politicians given a clean slate

The News International ''The News International'', published in broadsheet size, is one of the largest English language newspapers in Pakistan. It is published daily from Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/Islamabad. An overseas edition is published from London that cater ...

, 6 October 2007 It granted

amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...

to politicians, political workers and bureaucrats who were accused of corruption, and wanted to leave country for their own profit embezzlement, money laundering, murder, and between 1 January 1986, and 12 October 1999, the time between two states of

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

in Pakistan. It was declared

unconstitutional Constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applicable constitution. When l ...

by the

Supreme Court of Pakistan The Supreme Court of Pakistan ( ur, ; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Established in accordance to thePart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it has ultimate a ...

on 16 December 2009, saving the country from political

crisis A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...

Background

The ordinance aimed at "promoting national reconciliation, fostering mutual trust and confidence amongst holders of public office and removing the vestiges of political vendetta and victimization, and to make the election process more transparent". The NRO states: It is widely believed that the act was a measure to allow the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to return to Pakistan without any legal consequences due to pending politically motivated corruption cases. However, Musharraf had said that it was necessary to build a reconciliatory theme in the political arena with the removal of such politically motivated cases. Musharraf stated in an interview that cases had been in the courts for a decade without any judgment being passed and were hampering political progress of virtually all political parties. According to

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

, Pakistan is considered one of the most corrupt countries in the world. For the year 2009 it was ranked 139th out of 180 and had a score of 2.4 on the Corruption Perceptions Index. Furthermore, some analyst believe 'US, the UK and Saudi Arabia underwrote a public amnesty which would enable popular politicians such as Benazir Bhutto to return to the country and counter the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

Subsequent developments

The former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Chaudhary, suspended this ordinance on 12 October 2007. But he was soon dismissed after Musharraf abrogated the constitution on 3 November 2007. The new Chief Justice,

Abdul Hameed Dogar Abdul Hameed Dogar () is a Pakistani jurist who served as the former Justice of Sindh High Court,

, revived the NRO on 27 February 2008.

Release of list of NRO beneficiaries

In November 2009,

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the four provinces, two autonomous territorie ...

released the list of the beneficiaries of NRO on the directives of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. The total list was 8041 beneficiaries most of which were bureaucrats, along with a handful of politicians. Amongst the beneficiaries were 34 politicians while others were all personnel of the armed forces and/or bureaucrats. The cases also included some high-ranking politicians, such as the Ex-President

Asif Ali Zardari Asif Ali Zardari ( ur, ; sd, ; born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician who is the president of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians and was the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party. He served as the 11th president of Pakist ...

and Ex-Prime Minister

Yousuf Raza Gillani Yusuf Raza Gilani (Urdu: ; born 9 June 1952), is a Pakistani politician who served as 18th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 25 March 2008, until his retroactive #Disqualification and ouster, disqualification and ouster by the Supreme Court of P ...

. The NRO was planned to be presented in the National Assembly but later due to the opposition of several major parties was not presented in the Assembly. According to State Minister for Law Afzal Sindhu in a news conference, the ordinance affected 8,041 people, including 34 politicians and 03 ambassadors.List of 8041 NRO beneficiaries issues

, 21 November 2009

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 October 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 The National Accountability Bureau ( ur, ; abbreviated NAB) is an autonomous and constitutionally established federal institution responsible to build efforts against corruption and prepare critical national economic intelligence assessments ...

asked the Interior Ministry to bar 248 people, including

Interior Minister of Pakistan Interior may refer to: Arts and media * ''Interior'' (Degas) (also known as ''The Rape''), painting by Edgar Degas * ''Interior'' (play), 1895 play by Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck * ''The Interior'' (novel), by Lisa See * Interior de ...

Rehman Malik Abdul Rehman Malik NI (Punjabi, Urdu: رحمان ملک; born 12 December 1951 – 23 February 2022) was a Pakistani politician and a Federal Investigation Agency officer, having served as the Interior Minister from being appointed on 25 March ...

, from leaving the country. The following day an arrest warrant was issued against Malik. Defence Minister of Pakistan Chaudhry

Ahmad Mukhtar Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar ( ur, احمد مختار) (22 June 1946 – 25 November 2020) was a Pakistani politician and businessman who served as the Defence Minister of Pakistan in the PM Yousaf Raza Gillani-led cabinet. He also owned Servis G ...

was stopped from departing the country on a trip to China at Islamabad airport. Writing in the Pakistani newspaper ''

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's hori ...

'', columnist

Cyril Almeida Cyril Almeida(Urdu: سائیرل المیڈا) is a Pakistani journalist who served as the assistant editor and columnist for ''Dawn''. Born and raised in Karachi, Almeida received his B.A from LUMS and studied jurisprudence as a Rhodes Schola ...

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 crisis 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 the military was running the country.Court ruling paralyses Pakistan's Zardari government

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

, 19 December 2009 The extent of the crisis led to speculation whether the Army had any role to play in this. The situation was described as a 'creeping coup'.

Asma Jahangir Asma Jilani Jahangir ( ur, , ''ʿĀṣimah Jahāṉgīr''; 27 January 1952 – 11 February 2018) was a Pakistani human rights lawyer and social activist who co-founded and chaired the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Jahangir was known ...

, chairperson of

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan ( ur, ) (HRCP) is an independent, democratic non-profit organisation. Founded in 1987, it is one of the oldest human rights organisations in the country. HRCP is committed to monitoring, protecting a ...

, 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 ''

'' 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.' In a 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 the 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.

NRO beneficiaries

Selected NRO beneficiaries include: *

Hakim Ali Zardari Hakim Ali Zardari (9 December 1930 – 24 May 2011), ur, ) was a Pakistani politician who served as a member of National Assembly of Pakistan from 1972 to 1977 and again from 1988 to 1990 and then again from 1993 to 1996. Early life He was ...

* Altaf Hussain (Politician) *

Nisar Khuhro Senator Nisar Ahmad Khuhro ( ur, نثار احمد کھوڑو) is a Pakistani Sindhi politician who has been the member of the Senate of Pakistan since March 2022. He is also the President of Pakistan Peoples Party's Sindh chapter. Early life a ...

Hussain Haqqani Husain Haqqani (; born 1 July 1956, alternately spelled Hussain Haqqani) is a Pakistani journalist, academic, political activist, and former ambassador of Pakistan to Sri Lanka and the United States. Haqqani has written four books on Pakistan, ...

* Nawaz Khokhar * Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar *

Jehangir Bader Jehangir Bader (Urdu: جہانگیر بدر) was a Pakistani politician and member of Senate of Pakistan, he served as Chairperson-Senate Committee on Parliamentary Affairs. Affiliated with Pakistan Peoples Party since its inception, Jehangir ...

* Salman Farooqi * Siraj Shamsuddin Siraj Shamsuddin * Syed Muhammad Ali Shah * Brigadier Imtiaz * Ishrat-ul-Ebad *

Farooq Sattar Muhammad Farooq Sattar (; born 9 April 1949) is a Pakistani politician who is the founder & former leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, who split it from MQM founder and leader Altaf Hussain, he announced separate faction after rele ...

* Saleem Shahzad * Babar Ghouri *

Nusrat Bhutto ''Begum'' Nusrat Bhutto (; sd, نصرت ڀٽو; ur, ; born as Nusrat Ispahani; 23 March 1929 – 23 October 2011) was an Iranian-Pakistani public figure of Kurdish origin, who served as spouse of the Prime Minister of Pakistan between 1971 unti ...

* Several bureaucrats Other than these there are hundreds of political as well as non-political persons who have benefited from this ordinance.NRO list out, 34 politicians among 8,000 beneficiaries
''

'', 22 November 2009 The

(NAB) presented a list of 248 politicians and bureaucrats to the government, whose cases were cleared by NAB due to NRO.

References

{{reflist

External links

Text of the Ordinance

List of NRO Beneficiaries

Supreme Court throws out NRO: Text of the order issued by the Supreme Court of Pakistan

NRO Verdict Latest Videos
2007 in Pakistan 2007 in law Corruption in Pakistan Ordinance in Pakistan Supreme Court of Pakistan cases 2007 in Pakistani politics