NRO declared void ab initio

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday declared National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) invalid from the outset or beginning (void ab initio) being against the national interest as it was meant "to give benefit to a class of people" and had violated the Constitution. However, after striking down the NRO that had created a divide among the people of Pakistan, the Court said it will keep an eye on the proceedings of the revived cases through the establishment of Monitoring Cells.
All cases stand revived. Govt ordered to proceed against the then AG Qayyum and seek revival of requests and claims in relation to allegedly laundered money lying in foreign countries, including Switzerland. Govt directed to make fresh appointments to the posts of chairman NAB and Prosecutor General NAB
"...the NRO is declared to be void ab initio being ultra vires and violative of various constitutional provisions including Article 4, 8, 25 62(f),63(i)(p), 89, 175 and 227 of the constitution," said Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry while he read out the short order.
"As a consequence of the said declaration, all steps taken, actions suffered, and all orders passed by whatever authority, any orders passed by the courts of law including the orders of discharge and acquittals recorded in favour of the accused persons, are also declared never to have existed in the eyes of law and resultantly of no legal effect," the order said.
The court directed the government to contact Swiss authorities for the revival of Mutual Legal Assistance while declaring the withdrawal of the cases against President Asif Ali Zardari in Switzerland, ordered by the then Attorney General, Malik Qayyum, as illegal, unconstitutional and unauthorised.
The order declared that the initial requests for Mutual Legal Assistance; securing the status of Civil Party and the claims lodged to the allegedly laundered moneys lying in foreign countries, including Switzerland, are declared never to have been withdrawn.
In view of the conduct of former Attorney General Malik Qayyum which, according to the Supreme Court resulted in unlawful abandonment of claims of the government of Pakistan to huge amounts of allegedly laundered money laying in foreign countries including Switzerland, the court direct the government to proceed against him in accordance with the law. According to the short order, a Monitoring Cell headed by the CJP and a judge of SC should be established to monitor the proceedings in the cases under the NAB ordinance.
Likewise, similar Monitoring Cells shall be set up in the High Courts of all the Provinces comprising of the Chief Justice of the respective Province or Judges of the concerned High Courts to be nominated by them to monitor the progress and the proceedings in cases in which the accused persons had been acquitted or discharged under Section 2 of the NRO. The order said that all the cases which were under investigation or pending enquiries and which had either been withdrawn or where the investigations or enquiries had been terminated on account of the NRO "shall also stand revived" and the relevant and competent authorities shall proceed in the said matters in accordance with law.
The court directed the Federal Government, all the Provincial Governments and all relevant and competent authorities including the Prosecutor General of NAB, the Special Prosecutors in various Accountability Courts, the Prosecutors General in the four Provinces and other officers or officials involved in the prosecution of criminal offenders are directed to offer every possible assistance required by the competent courts in the said connection.
A 17-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jilani, Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali, Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Rehmat Husain Jafferi, Justice Tariq Parvez, Justice Ghulam Rabbani, unanimously declared the ordinance void ab initio.
During the seven days of proceedings in the Supreme Court, the NRO was not supported by any of the province or by the federation through its principal law officer ie Attorney General.
An in-depth examination of the NRO suggests that it has not been promulgated to provide reconciliation on national basis as this nation has seen reconciliation in 1973, when a Constituent Assembly gave the Constitution of 1973 to the nation, guaranteeing their fundamental rights, on the basis of equality and brotherhood, as a result whereof, the nation had proved its unity, whenever it faced a challenge to its sovereignty and existence
Therefore, the promulgation of the NRO seems to be against the national interest and its preamble is contrary to the substance embodied therein. Thus, it violates various provisions of the Constitution, said the Chief Justice.
The court directed the government for fresh appointments to the posts of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman, Prosecutor General, Additional Prosecutor General while saying, "we place on record our displeasure about the conduct and lack of proper and honest assistance and co-operation on the part of the Chairman of the NAB, the Prosecutor General of the NAB and of the Additional Prosecutor General of the NAB, namely, Mr Abdul Baseer Qureshi in this case. Consequently, it is not possible for us to trust them with proper and diligent pursuit of the cases falling within their respective spheres of operation".
The controversial NRO was promulgated by the then President Pervez Musharraf on October 5, 2007, to provide immunity to leaders and officials from cases registered against them between 1st January 1986 and October 12th 1999. However, soon after the promulgation, the ordinance was challenged in the Supreme Court by Dr Mubashir Hassan, one of the founding members of the PPP, former bureaucrat Roedad Khan, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, former Ameer Jamaat-i-Islami and PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif.