SC full bench to hear review petitions

ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court has set up a full court bench to hear the review petitions against the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) verdict.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said on Wednesday that the bench will begin hearings from May 25. The CJ himself will head the bench. Former attorney-general Malik Qayyum and former additional prosecutor-general National Accountability Bureau Abdul Baseer Qureshi filed the petitions against the NRO verdict after the detailed judgment by the SC, which was given on January 19.


However, those review petitions were rejected twice with objections from the Supreme Court registrar’s office. Interestingly, the SC has also summoned Law minister Babar Awan on the same day. The law minister will be justifying the government’s stance regarding the non-implementation of the NRO judgement and, more specifically, giving reasons for not having written to the Swiss authorities for the reopening of Swiss cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

On December 16, 2009, a 17-member bench of the Supreme Court had declared the NRO null and void.

Published in the Express Tribune, May 20th, 2010.
Load Next Story