Govt given seven days to implement NRO verdict

SC had ordere­d govt to write letter to Swiss author­ities reques­ting reopen­ing of cases agains­t Zardar­i.

ISLAMABAD: With the leadership of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party still dealing with the allegations of Memogate, another legal front has been reopened in the Supreme Court - that of its 'original sin', the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday set a seven-day deadline for the government to implement the National Reconciliation Ordinance verdict, which includes an order to the government to write a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen cases against President Asif Zardari.

The court said on Tuesday that it will take action if proceedings do not begin by January 10. Justice Asif Saeed Khosa warned that action shall be initiated against those responsible, irrespective of their status and office.

A five-member bench, headed by Justice Khosa, expressed disappointment over the non-implementation of the court’s judgment during Tuesday’s hearing. On December 16, 2009, the SC declared the NRO to be void ab initio (void from the start), thus leaving those pardoned under the ordinance as fair game for investigators.

Even after more than two years since the verdict, the court is still waiting on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Attorney General (AG) Maulvi Anwarul Haq to do the needful. The court expected NAB to prepare a summary so that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani could then send a request to the Swiss authorities to initiate cases against the president.

The federation had challenged the NRO verdict in the middle – but on November 24, a 17-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, swiftly dismissed the review petition.

The AG and Karim Khan Agha, the prosecutor general of NAB, were present at Tuesday’s hearing. Masood Chishti, the law secretary, was, however, absent – prompting the court to insist on his presence at the next hearing.

Justice Khosa stated that Chishti’s unavailability would be considered a deliberate absence if he failed to appear at the next session. “The AG expressed his inability to inform us whether any summary was submitted to the prime minister or not. The last opportunity is being provided to the law secretary to send the summary to the prime minister,” the order stated. The court also summoned NAB Chairman Fasih Bokhari and KK Agha to appear in person on January 10 and inform the court about progress made on investigating misuse of authority.

On this point, the court was referring to the appointment of Adnan A Khwaja as managing director of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, despite the fact that he was convicted of corruption charges. Referring to a similar appointment of Ahmed Riaz Sheikh as additional director of the Federal Investigation Agency, the court observed that NAB did not even bother to seize the property reclaimed after Sheikh secured release under the NRO.

Interior Secretary Raja Ahsan was also ordered to appear before the court for concealing Sheikh’s conviction in corruption cases.

The bench directed the NAB chairman and prosecutor general to immediately sift through all case records to check offences following the NRO being declared void, asking that “they would apprise the court of the action undertaken in this regard.”

The proceedings will resume on January 10.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2012.