The National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) was a controversial ordinance issued by the former President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, on 5 October 2007.^[1] It granted amnesty to politicians, political workers and bureaucrats who were accused of corruption, embezzlement, money laundering, murder, and terrorism between 1 January 1986, and 12 October 1999, the time between two states of martial law in Pakistan. It was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 16 December 2009, throwing the country into a political crisis.^[2][3]

Background[link]

The ordinance aimed at "promoting national reconciliation, fostering mutual trust and confidence amongst holders of public office and removing the vestiges of political vendetta and victimisation, and to make the election process more transparent".^[1] The NRO states:

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in sub-section(1), the Federal Government or a Provincial Government may, before the judgment is pronounced by a trial court, withdraw from the prosecution of any person including an absconding accused who is found to be falsely involved for political reasons or through political victimization in any case initiated between 1st day of January, 1986 to 12th day of October, 1999 and upon such withdrawal clause (a) and clause (b) of sub-section (1) shall apply.

It is widely believed that the act was a measure to allow the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to return to Pakistan without any legal consequences due to pending politically motivated corruption cases.^[2] However, Musharraf had said that it was necessary to build a reconciliatory theme in the political arena with the removal of such politically motivated cases. Musharraf stated in an interview that cases had been in the courts for a decade without any judgment being passed and were hampering political progress of virtually all political parties.^[4]

According to Transparency International, Pakistan is considered one of the most corrupt countries in the world.^[2] For the year 2009 it was ranked 42nd out of 180 and had a score of 2.4 on the Corruption Perceptions Index.^[5]

Furthermore some analyst believe ' US, the UK and Saudi Arabia underwrote a public amnesty which would enable popular politicians such as Benazir Bhutto to return to the country and counter the Taliban.'^[6]

Subsequent developments[link]

The current Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, suspended this ordinance on 12 October 2007.^[7] But he was soon dismissed after Musharraf abrogated the constitution on 3 November 2007. The new Chief Justice, Abdul Hameed Dogar revived the NRO on 27 February 2008.^[8]

Release of list of NRO beneficiaries[link]

In November 2009, Government of Pakistan released the list of the beneficiaries of the National Reconciliation Ordinance on the directives of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.^[9] The total list was 8041 beneficiaries most of which are bureaucrats, along with a handful of politicians. The cases also included some high ranking politicians such as the current President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani. The NRO was planned to be presented in the National Assembly but later due to the opposition of several major parties was not presented in the Assembly. According to State Minister for Law Afzal Sindhu in a news conference, the ordinance affected 8041 people, including 34 politicians and three ambassadors.^[9]

Dissolution of NRO by Supreme Court[link]

On 16 December 2009, the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared NRO unconstitutional.^[10] A 17-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, declared the ordinance null and void.^[11] The Supreme Court also said that all the cases disposed of because of the controversial ordinance now stand revived as of 5 Oct 2007, position.^[12][13] The court opined that the NRO "seems to be against national interests thus it violates the provisions of the constitution".^[2] Western diplomats subsequently expressed concern that Pakistan could face further instability due to this ruling, especially if Mr Zardari's political opponents try to remove him from office.^[14] However, the verdict was widely welcomed in Pakistan.^[15]

After this verdict, Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau asked the Interior Ministry to bar 248 people, including Interior Minister of Pakistan Rehman Malik, from leaving the country. The following day an arrest warrant was issued against Malik.^[16] Defence Minister of Pakistan Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar was stopped from departing the country on a trip to China at Islamabad airport.^[17] Writing in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, columnist Cyril Almeida stated "It's chaos out there. Nobody knows what's going on. Everyone is trying to work out the ramifications of the court order."^[18]

The political crises deepened as the government was paralysed and the country seemed to slide towards a coup with it being increasingly unclear whether the elected politicians, the judiciary or somebody else was running the country.^[3] The extent of the crises led to speculation whether the Army had any role to play in this.^[19] The situation was described as a 'creeping coup'. Asma Jahangir chairperson of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan was quoted as saying 'It's complete (judicial) control now, the issue is whether the (democratic) system is going to pack up again.'^[20] In an editorial in Dawn she criticised the judiciary and called the judgement a 'witchhunt'. She also remarked 'long-term effects of the judgment could also be counter-productive; perpetrators are often viewed as victims if justice is not applied in an even-handed manner and if administered in undue haste with overwhelming zeal.'^[21]

The scene is still seems to be vague. In an hearing of NRO Case, the supreme court was told that government was looking for a lawyer upon which it could trust to run the government's side while chief justice of Pakistan has asked the government to adopt all necessary measures otherwise the Prime Minister of Pakistan has to appear and proceed the case himself.^[22]

NRO beneficiaries[link]

Selected NRO beneficiaries include:

• Asif Ali Zardari^[4][23]
• Benazir Bhutto
• Hakim Ali Zardari^[24]
• Altaf Hussain(Politician)^[4][23]
• Fazal-ur-Rehman (Politician)^[25]
• Nisar Khuhro^[24]
• Rehman Malik^[4][26]
• Hussain Haqqani^[4]
• Nawaz Khokhar^[27]
• Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar^[28]
• Jehangir Badar^[28]
• Salman Farooqi^[27]
• Siraj Shamsuddin^[29]
• Syed Muhammad Ali Shah^[30]
• Brigadier Imtiaz^[27]
• Ishrat-ul-Ebad^[23]
• Farooq Sattar^[23]
• Saleem Shahzad^[23]
• Babar Ghouri^[23]
• Several Bureaucrats^[27]

Other than these there are hundreds of political as well as non-political persons who have benefited from this ordinance.^[4][9] The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) presented a list of 248 politicians and bureaucrats to the government, whose cases were cleared by NAB due to NRO.^[29]

See also[link]

Government of Pakistan portal

• Ministry of Interior
• Exit Control List
• National Accountability Bureau

References[link]

-== External links ==

• Text of the Ordinance
• List of NRO Beneficiaries
• Supreme Court throws out NRO: Text of the order issued by the Supreme Court of Pakistan
• NRO Verdict Latest Videos

History of Afghanistan

See also: Timeline

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Book ·  Category ·  Portal

National Reconciliation is the term used for establishment of so-called 'national unity' in countries beset with political problems. In Afghanistan Mohammad Najibullah's proposals for national unification started in 1987 and ended early in the 1990s to stop the Afghan civil war which had haunted the country since 1978 after the Saur Revolution.^[1] At the National Reconciliation meeting they came to the conclusion that the Soviet armed forces in Afghanistan should withdraw.^[2]

The new constitution[link]

In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev was selected Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev pushed new president Mohammad Najibullah to come with a peace proposal in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. On the 15 January, 1987 Najibullah requested a six months ceasefire between Mujahideen and government forces, in this period he came up with various of proposals aimed at "National Reconciliation." The resistance replied to these proposals at a general meeting in Ghur province in July, 1987. The meeting was called together by Mujahideen resistance leader Ismail Khan in Herat province. Najibullah's proposal was rejected and the six month ceasefire agreement ended.^[1]

Under Najibullah's leadership a new constitution was ratified by the Loya jirga in 1987. The new constitution abolished the one-party system in the country and saw the establishment of the Meli Shura (Loya jirga), Sena (Senate) and the Wolasi Jirga (House of Representatives) which would eventually replace the Revolutionary Council which had been the ruling organ since the PDPA's establishment in 1965.^[3] The word "Democratic" was also removed from the country's official name, and since 1987 the official name of the country was the Republic of Afghanistan. Islam became the official state religion again after the talks.^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Constitution of Afghanistan (1987)

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Aijaz Ahmad is a well-known Marxist literary theorist and political commentator based in India.

Born in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India just before it gained independence from British rule, Aijaz Ahmad along with his parents migrated to Pakistan following partition. After his education he worked in various universities in US and Canada. At present Aijaz Ahmad is Professorial Fellow at the Centre of Contemporary Studies, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi and is visiting Professor of Political Science at York University, Toronto. He also works as an editorial consultant with the Indian newsmagazine Frontline and as a senior news analyst for the Indian website Newsclick.

Books[link]

1. In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures - Verso
2. Lineages of the Present: Ideological and Political Genealogies of Contemporary South Asia
3. Iraq, Afghanistan and the Imperialism of Our Time - LeftWord Books, New Delhi
4. On Communalism and Globalization-Offensives of the Far Right - Three Essays Press, New Delhi
5. A Singular Voice: Collected Writings of Michael Sprinker - Editor (with Fred Pfeil and Modhumita Roy)
6. In Our Time: Empire, Politics, Culture

In his book In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, Ahmad primarily discusses the role of theory and theorists in the movement against colonialism and imperialism. Ahmad's rhetoric against those who uphold poststructuralism and postmodernist conceptions of material history revolves around the fact that very little has been accomplished since the advent of this brand of postcolonial inquiry. The book contains an especially polemical critique of Frederic Jameson's argument in 'Third World Literature in the era of Third World Literature" where Ahmad attacks Jameson on the grounds that Jameson's argument is insufficiently theorized in its use of terms like "Third World" which appears to be defined purely in terms of its experience of colonialism. This in turn leads Jameson to make hasty and untenable generalizations about how all "third world literature' would necessarily function as a national allegory that according to Jameson works as resistance to a system of global postmodernism. However Ahmad in his book expresses his chagrin at how his critique of Jameson has been appropriated by Postcolonial scholars as an attack on Marxism, while Ahmad contends that he takes issue with Jameson simply because his use of Marxism in the essay on Third World Literature is not rigorous enough. The book also contains a lengthy critique of Edward Said's Orientalism which Ahmad argues reproduces the very Liberal Humanist tradition that it seeks to undermine in its selection of Western canonized texts that are critiqued for their Orientalism, as this upholds the idea that Western culture is represented in its entirety through those very texts. Furthermore Ahmad asserts that by tracing Orientalist thought all the way back to Ancient Greece it becomes unclear in Said's work whether Orientalism is a product of Colonialism, or whether Colonialism is, in fact, a product of Orientalism.

External links[link]

• Aijaz Ahmad, ISLAM, ISLAMISMS AND THE WEST (online version of article for the Socialist Register 2008).
• Aijaz Ahmad video on the Socialist Project website.
• Aijaz Ahmad video on the Real News website Iran: IAEA report sparks controversy.

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The Mehran bank scandal also known as Mehrangate, was a major political scandal in the history of Pakistan between 1990-1994 in which senior politicians and political parties were found to have been bribed by Pakistan Army and intelligence officers, from ISI, to prevent the re-election and to destabilize the government of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Initiated by Pakistan Army's Chief of Army Staff General Mirza Aslam Beg with the alleged support of President Ghulam Ishaq Khan payments of up to 140 million PkR were made by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director-General Lieutenant-General Asad Durrani and Corps of Engineers Engineer-in-Chief Lieutenant-General Javed Nasir via the owner of Mehran Bank Yunus Habib. Intelligence funds were deposited in Mehran bank in 1992 propping up what was an insolvent bank as a favor for its owner's help in loaning money to the Inter-Services Intelligence in 1990 that was used in the creation of the right wing alliance Islami Jamhoori-Ittehad (IJI) and bankrolling the campaigns of many opponents of the PPP.

The scandal subsequently broke after the new ISI Director-General Lieutenant-General Javed Ashraf Qazi decided to transfer the intelligence fund back to state owned banks as per official rules. Mehran Bank was unable to return the money due to its poor financial state and collapsed. It was later discovered that large sums had been siphoned off to 39 fictitious parties.

In 1995, Mehran Bank was amalgamated with the National Bank and in 1996 the NBP had to make full provision for Mehran's liabilities which resulted in a net loss that year to the bank of Rs 1.260 billion.^[1]

On April 20, 1994, giving details about the payments made by Mr Habib to generals, politicians and political parties, the then Interior Minister, Naseerullah Babar, told the National Assembly that the main beneficiary of his largesse was former army chief General Mirza Aslam Beg who received Rs140 million.^[2]

Yunus Habib was arrested on April 7, 1994 for misappropriation in the sale proceeds of the Dollar Bearer Certificates. On Dec 14, 1995, Younus Habib was convicted of fraud and embezzlement and given a sentence of 10 years rigorous imprisonment by the Special Court for Offences in Banks in Sindh. ^[3]

See also[link]

• Establishment (Pakistan)
• Operation Midnight Jackal

References[link]

Syed Faisal Raza Abidi
Pakistan Senator to the Pakistan Senate
In office March 2009 – March 2015
President	Asif Ali Zardari
Prime Minister	Yousaf Raza Gillani
Constituency	Sindh
Personal details
Born	Syed Faisal Raza Abidi Karachi, Sindh
Nationality	Pakistan
Political party	Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)
Residence	Islamabad, Karachi
Alma mater	B.A. and B.B.A
Occupation	Politician, Businessman
Profession	President, Pakistan Peoples Party, Karachi Division
Committees	Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications Standing Committee on Environment Standing Committee on Communications Standing Committee on Defence and Defence Production Standing Committee on Labour and Manpower
Portfolio	Senator
Religion	Shia Islam

Since March 2009 he has served as a member of the Senate of Pakistan representing the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). He has previously served as the President of the Karachi Division of the PPP, as well as a member of the PPP's Central Executive Committee, Now he is again appointed to his previous responsibility for the President of PPP karachi division, Syed Faisal Raza Abidi is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Al-Zulfiqar Group of Companies, Karachi, since 2008.^[1][2][3][4]

Position[link]

• Senator (Tenure = March 2009 to March 2015) Party Affiliation: PPPP
• President of PPP Karachi Division
• Political Secretary To The President of Pakistan

Information[link]

• Position: Senator, Political Secretary to the President Of Pakistan, President of PPP Karachi Division
• Party Affiliation: Pakistan Peoples Party
• Gender: Male
• Fax: 021-5879099
• Address: B-10, New Rizvia Housing Society, Near Safora Goth, Opp: Kiran Hospital, Karachi.
• City: Karachi
• Province: Sindh
• Country: Pakistan

Committee[link]

• Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications
• Standing Committee on Labour and Manpower
• Standing Committee on Communications
• Standing Committee on Environment
• Standing Committee on Defence and Defence Production

References[link]

See also[link]

• Abidi

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