October 12, 2007	Friday	Ramazan 29, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) president Shahbaz Sharif on Thursday joined the legal battle against the National Reconciliation Ordinance and challenged it in the Supreme Court, questioning President Pervez Musharraf’s authority to grant general amnesty from prosecution to persons accused of committing crimes against society.

Filed through Advocate Mohammad Ikram Chaudhry, the petitioner said that the misappropriation of state money by any holder of the public office amounted to depriving citizens of their fundamental rights.

A four-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry will take up all petitions against the NRO on Friday.

President Pervez Musharraf had on Oct 5 promulgated the NRO 2007 which gives immediate relief to PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto. She will get indemnity in all cases registered against her by the Nawaz Sharif government. A number of petitions have been filed in the apex and high courts challenging the legality of the ordinance.

Shahbaz Sharif in his petition said that sections 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the NRO violated the fundamental rights of the people. He said that corrupt politicians and bureaucrats had amassed wealth and deprived the national exchequer of thousands of millions during the period between January 1986 and October 1999 and they should face accountability rather than enjoy amnesty at the cost of the poor people.

PPI adds: In Karachi, a petition challenging the legality of the National Reconciliation Ord- inance was filed in the Sindh High Court on Thursday.

Advocate Zahid Farooq Mazari submitted that according to the Constitution, no discriminating law or ordinance, which was inconsistent and in violation of the Constitution, could be promulgated.