LAHORE, Oct 6: The Supreme Court and the Lahore High Court have been requested to adjudicate the legality of the recently-promulgated National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).

Advocate Tariq Aziz in a petition filed in the Supreme Court said the ordinance ‘patently and manifestly’ violated Article 25 of the Constitution because it provided for withdrawal of cases only against holders of public offices.

He said the ordinance was also in contravention of the principle of equality of status under Article 2-A, Article 4 and Article 8 of the Constitution.

He said the ‘mal-intent behind issuance of the ordinance’ should not be ignored because it gave protection to people accused of plundering the national exchequer.

“Hold the NRO mala fide and arbitrary and against the fundamental rights of the citizens of Pakistan enshrined in the Constitution,” the lawyer requested the court.

Advocate Nasrullah Babar moved the LHC. He said in his petition that the NRO had been promulgated after talks with a political party while under the Constitution, an ordinance could be promulgated only in national interest.

He said the timing of the promulgation of the ordinance reflected that President Gen Pervez Musharraf had done it to perpetuate his rule. He said the court had the power to look into circumstances under which the ordinance had been promulgated.

The lawyer alleged that the NRO was a reward for plunderers of the national wealth and a tool for new rulers to steal people’s wealth again. He prayed the court to declare the NRO as ultra vires of the Constitution.