KARACHI – The Sindh High Court (SHC) dismissed a petition filed for reopening the cases withdrawn under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) on Wednesday due to non-prosecution. The SHC divisional bench comprising Chief Justice Musheer Alam and Justice Syed Hassan Rizvi dismissed the petition filed by Iqbal Kazmi, who has continuously remained absent from hearings.
Kazmi had submitted that on October 5, 2007 former military ruler Pervez Musharraf issued the NRO, under which 8,041 corruption and criminal cases were withdrawn illegally. He stated that the validity of this ordinance expired on February 5, 2009 and directions should be issued to federal and provincial governments to initiate the trials of withdrawn cases from their same positions. On December 16, 2009, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had also declared the NRO as illegal.
