NRO was made to end political victimisation, Musharraf tells SC
Former president and army chief submits reply in Supreme Court, seeks dismissal of petition against National Reconciliation...
ISLAMABAD: Former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the 2007National Reconciliation Order (NRO) was enacted tomake the election process transparent and end political victimisation in the country.
The former president and army chief's counsel submitted a reply today after the apex court sought his response in the NRO case.
The reply stated further that the NRO was not brought about with ill intentions and was completely legal.
It further sought to dismiss the petition against the NRO.
The NRO, passed by Musharraf in 2007, granted amnesty to politicians and other individuals by quashing various corruption and criminal cases against them so they could return to the country and engage in the democratic process.
On July 4, the Supreme Court had summoned details of foreign assets of former president Asif Ali Zardari and Musharraf.
The court directed the respondents, which includedformer attorney general Justice (retd) Malik Qayyum, to submit affidavits in court, along with details of their personal foreign assets, those of their children, foreign bank accounts and any offshore companies.
Last month, former president Zardari submitted his response to the Supreme Court in the NRO case, stressing he had no role in forming the controversial law.
Zardari informed the court that cases against him were quashed in 2007 in compliance with NRO, however, they had reopened after the NRO was overruled by the apex court.
Zardari was acquited from criminal cases in their subsequent trials, the response stated further.
The case
Nominating Musharraf, Zardari and former attorney general Qayyum as respondents, petitioner Feroz Shah Gilani had requested the court in April this year to order recovery of ‘huge amounts of public money’ misappropriated and wasted by them through unlawful means ‘already on record in different judgments of the Supreme Court and high court’.
He had contended that Musharraf subverted the Constitution by declaring emergency followed by the promulgation of the NRO, through which criminal and corruption cases against politicians, including Zardari, were ‘arbitrarily withdrawn’ causing huge financial losses to the national exchequer.