Don’t link CH Shujaat with NRO, says US Ambassador

Anne Patterson says Shujaat had nothing to do with NRO although he was aware of events surrounding its promulgation.

ISLAMABAD: US Ambassador Anne W Patterson on Friday clarified that PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat had  nothing to do with controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), although he was well aware of events surrounding its promulgation.

Anne Patterson expressed these views during a short chat during a luncheon in her honor by Chaudhry Shujaat on Friday.

The US ambassador further said that US is taking gigantic steps for bolstering Pak-US strategic and diplomatic relations.

He said he had written to the Swiss courts that their performance was even worse than Pakistani courts as they failed to decide the cases, “but the fact of the matter is that there was nothing in those cases”.

In an exclusive interview with Daily Express, Musharraf  had earlier detailed the role of the Chaudhry brothers in the return of Benazir Bhutto to Pakistan.

Musharraf presented details of his talks with Benazir before his political friends, including Chaudhry Shujaat and Pervaiz Elahi. Among the points he presented included ending of cases against Benazir Bhutto and her spouse and setting aside the bar on becoming prime minister a third time.

The Chaudhry brothers, he said, reacted by saying that the cases be dropped but the bar on third-time premiership should stay or the Q league would lose elections.

Former president Musharraf had also earlier made a candid apology to the nation for making ‘political mistakes’ as he began his political career on with the formal launch of his All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) party in London. In a question and answer session with the media, he clarified that he had apologised only for the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).

“The NRO was my mistake,” he said, adding that he had struck a deal with the slain chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party Benazir Bhutto. He claimed that under the terms of the agreement, Bhutto was not supposed to return to the country until the elections were held.