Benazir was not interested in NRO, Musharraf was: SC

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said on Thursday that former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was not at all interested in the National Reconciliation Ordinance, but former president Pervez Musharraf had made persistent efforts to bring her around.
“We even read in the press that Pervez Musharraf went to Dubai several times but could not convince Benazir Bhutto to come on board,” said Chaudhry. If Bhutto wanted to broker a deal she would not have participated in the lawyer’s movement, he added.
“You are linking Benazir Bhutto to this piece of paper. She was not only Pakistani or Asian but she was an international towering personality. Benazir Bhutto wrote in her book that she did not take any interest in the NRO. Gen Musharraf wanted this law. She was the daughter of a father who never accepted any wrong deed,” Chaudhry told Dr Babar Awan, the government’s counsel in the NRO review plea. “This is the case of the federation, don’t involve such a great leader in it,” the chief justice added.
A 17-member full court headed by the chief justice was hearing the government’s review petition on the infamous NRO promulgated by Musharraf. The Supreme Court allowed the federation on Thursday to file additional documents with the review petition after having earlier declined to accept them with the ruling that according to the settled rules of the apex court, any additional documents could not be accepted at the review stage. The court directed Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq to ask Awan to file the additional documents on Friday (today) if they were from the federal government.
Earlier when Awan concluded his arguments, he repeatedly requested the court to accept some additional documents which he said were the most important ones, however, the court declined.
Awan contended that the questions of facts were decided in the NRO judgement without replies. Justice Asif Saeed Khosa reminded the counsel that a written statement was filed by the acting attorney general at the time for not defending the NRO. Awan, however, replied that he had been trying to tell the court for the last three days that the federation had submitted earlier in the main petition on the NRO that if any wider issue emerged, a review could be filed.
“The full court has been hearing the review petition for the last three days, but you have not yet pinpointed that wider issue,” the chief justice told Awan.
“You mean to say that the persons who benefited from NRO should be protected?” Justice Saqib Nisar asked Awan, who replied that a review meant “you come back from an earlier view in any judgement including cases pertaining to criminals, commercial and corporate, etc”. “The scope of a review is not limited, but wide,” Awan stated.
“That’s why we are hearing you, but subject to the law,” Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani told Awan.
After the interval, Wasim Sajjad, counsel for former attorney general Malik Qayyum, stated that his client could not give his stance in the case, and later the court ordered filing of criminal cases against him in connection with writing letters to the Swiss government. He contended that Qayyum was not a beneficiary of the NRO and wrote letters on behalf of the Law Ministry as he was representing the federation in the case.
The court disposed of cases of Malik Qayyum, former National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman Naveed-ul-Hassan, NAB Prosecutor General Danishwar Malik and Additional General Baseer Qurashi and ordered the completion of enquires against them in compliance with the court’s earlier orders.