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ISLAMABAD: In a reply submitted to the Supreme Court, former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf has claimed that he promulgated the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) 2007 without having any mala fide or vested interests and to end acrimony between different political parties and (improve) political conditions prevailing then.
Mr Musharraf pleaded that the NRO 2007 was promulgated by him as then president on the advice of the government, which was later declared by the apex court void ab initio through its judgement in December 2009.
The reply was submitted by his counsel Akhtar Shah in response to earlier directives of an SC bench seized with a petition of Feroz Shah Gilani, president of the Lawyers Foundation for Justice, in which he has named Mr Musharraf, former attorney general Malik Mohammad Qayyum, former president Asif Ali Zardari and the National Accountability Bureau as respondents.
Mr Musharraf said the promulgation of the NRO was aimed at fostering mutual trust and confidence amongst the holders of public office, removing vestiges of political vendetta and victimisation, making the election process more transparent and amending certain laws, in addition to ancillary-related matters.
The reply insisted that all actions taken by the then president were in accordance with the laws as existed at that time.
Mr Musharraf requested the court to dismiss the petition to the extent of his involvement.
Earlier, Mr Zardari had filed a reply pleading that no case of causing losses to the public exchequer or looting and plundering national wealth had ever been proved against him in Pakistan or abroad.
He said he had no role in the promulgation of the NRO because he was in jail when it was introduced, adding that the cases against him were reopened when the NRO was set aside by the Supreme Court in 2010 and all cases were tried de novo which resulted in his acquittal on merit.
At the last hearing on July 4, the Supreme Court had asked for details of assets of Gen Musharraf, Mr Zardari and Malik Qayyum.
The court had ordered the respondents to furnish details of their bank accounts and assets both inside and outside the country as well as investments made in offshore companies.
They were also asked to disclose details of assets of their spouses and children both in the country and abroad.
Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2018
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Comments (16) Closed
To end political vendetta at the cost of national interests???????
Who cares?
Anyone who enters through the back door illegally is a thief, no matter how well intentioned.
Apparently Mr. Musharraf has not learn anything from past. He should be speaking truth may be this will ease his guilt and wrong doing he has done for lust for power and rule. NRO was means to get political advantage with at the expanse of law and stability of country.
National interest or self interest?
Musharraf threw us under the buss with NRO which brought the ultra-corrupt to the government. Former US Foreign Secretary Mrs. Rice wrote about how she engineered NRO. All in all it was a great blow to pur suvereignity, security and economy.
NRO was WRONG. Musharraf had no right to do so at the expense of the nation. The main charge against him is about promulgation of the NRO for which he needs to be held accountable and severely punished.
NRO was done so Musharraf could stay president. Let's be honest now.
Seriously Mr. Musharraf !!!! Did you really issue NRO from the goodness of your heart so no one could victimize anyone else ? Or was it to save your own presidential seat ? The amount of damage u did to Pakistan with that NRO is totally inconceivable, but you alone resulted in debt onto Pakistan’s National treasurer that is unprecedented
Let's be honest. Musharraf promulgated NRO to extend his tenure.
First let Musharaff learn to respect the law and submit to laws of Pakistan. Then he can ask for respect.
Lets be honest...the NRO was promulgated to keep you on your seat ..... and you were done in by the politicians.
@Zahid "NRO was done so Musharraf could stay president. Let's be honest now." He left the presidency soon after, it was the beneficiaries who took over, let's be honest.
@Shah "Musharraf threw us under the buss with NRO" He did not vote for these corrupt politicians who benefited from the NRO, you did. He gave you a choice to choose from all the politicians, you voted for the most corrupt ones and now blame him because he gave you you the opportunity that you refused to take.
A criminal is a criminal whether he has been wearing uniform or not.
@Ziarat khan rightly said, this disgraced fellow should be brought to justice