LAHORE, Oct 8: Veteran politician and founding member of the PPP Dr Mubashar Hasan on Monday challenged the National Reconciliation Ordinance, 2007, before the Supreme Court.
Dr Hasan, through Salman Akram Raja advocate, made the federation, all the provinces and the NAB party to the petition. He says the promulgation of the so-called ordinance was among the bleakest moments in the history of Pakistan.
The petitioner said: “In violating the guarantee of Article 25, the ordinance has in fact attempted to subvert the letter and spirit of the constitution by seeking to usurp the judicial power of the state by granting de facto ‘legislative acquittal’ to persons being probed pursuant to proceedings initiated between Jan 1, 1986, and Oct 12, 1999.”
The facility of immediate legislative acquittal has been granted in a discriminatory manner only to holders of public office in terms of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, Hasan adds.
The petitioner says the ordinance frustrates the clear intent of the constitution, contained in Articles 62 and 63, regarding the ineligibility of any person - particularly holders of public office to contest parliamentary elections if found guilty, amongst others, on charges of corrupt practice, moral turpitude or misuse of power or authority.
Furthermore, that the acquittal of a person through withdrawal of pending cases, especially those in which conviction has occurred, by means of a legislative instrument amounts to an unconstitutional interference with the judicial function and was a violation of the principles of independence of the judiciary as well as separation of powers enshrined in the constitution, he adds.
Sections 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the ordinance have been specifically attacked and sought to be declared ultra vires of the constitution.
ANOTHER PETITION: MD Tahir advocate, filing the petition under Article 199, said the objective of the ordinance was to give immediate indemnity to the Benazir Bhutto in all cases pending against her. The second major beneficiary was MQM whose almost 25,000 activists were involved in criminal cases of heinous nature, he added.
He said the ordinance had voided the orders and judgments passed by the courts in absentia. Petitioner said that 160 million people of Pakistan never asked for extending pardon to the people involved in crimes and corruption and the people who had looted wealth of the nation.