The Supreme Court’s dismissal of the government’s review petition against the apex court decision on the legality of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) has finally left the government with no option but to implement its December 16, 2009 judgement declaring this probably most controversial political agreement between former president Pervez Musharraf and slain Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairwoman Benazir Bhutto unconstitutional. Though the government has not reacted to the judgement except taking a position that the matter would be discussed at the top party (PPP) level, its political fallout will be far-reaching. Not only will the government have to write a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen the cases closed under the NRO, which it is reluctant to do, it will also have to take action against former attorney general Justice (r) Malik Qayyum. Politically, the most critical aspect of this dismissal of the review petition is that, except President Asif Ali Zardari who enjoys immunity under Article 248 of the constitution, the criminal cases against some federal ministers and a large number of political workers and leaders belonging to the PPP and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) stand restored. Legally, the government will face contempt of court in case it does not implement the Supreme Court’s judgement declaring the NRO unconstitutional and void ab initio. If the government delays the implementation of this judgement, the executive-judiciary tension, which already exists on a host of legal issues, may culminate in a serious crisis in the country.
TOP PARTY LEVEL: While Information Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan told Pakistan Today that the detailed judgement would be discussed at the top party level and the strategy to implement the decision would be chalked out accordingly, legal experts believe that the PPP government’s tactics with which it delayed the implementation of Supreme Court verdict for around two years are unlikely to work anymore. Commenting on the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the review petition, lawyer Akram Sheikh said if the government did not implement the NRO verdict in letter and spirit, it would be inviting trouble. “Until now, the government did not implement the verdict under the pretext of the review petition though there was no stay order on the verdict,” he said. Sheikh said in case the government failed to implement the NRO verdict, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani could be summoned by the SC.
Justice (r) Tariq Mehmood told Pakistan Today there was no choice for the government but to implement the court order. “It will earn huge embarrassment for the government if it writes letters to the Swiss government to reopen the cases against its own president… if the government uses delay tactics in implementing the verdict, top government functionaries may face contempt of court charges,” he added.
Prominent lawyer and PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan said: “The president enjoys immunity from court’s proceedings under Article 248 of the Constitution… the government had delayed the process of implementation of verdicts in certain cases but now the judgement has come and the government is bound to enforce it… no tense situation should prevail among institutions as it damages them.” Justice (r) Wajihuddin Ahmed said that in his opinion the government would try to make excuses to not implement the NRO verdict, “but this time the rulers’ efforts to escape accountability will not succeed as the government is weak because of the surfacing of the memogate issue”.
He said the government’s review petition against the NRO verdict was just a tactic to buy time. “The NRO verdict was announced in December 2009 and the government wasted two years under the cover of the review petition and did not implement the verdict though there was no stay order by the apex court on the previous order,” he said.
LEGISLATION SIMILAR TO NRO: Latif Afridi, another prominent lawyer, said it was clear in the constitution that every institution of the state was bound to obey the Supreme Court orders. “If the government has some issues, political or otherwise, with the verdict, it can get another similar legislation passed by parliament as it enjoys a majority,” he said.
Commenting on the verdict, lawyer Ikram Chaudhry said the government was not justified in filing a review petition and the result was natural. He said this was a frivolous effort on the part of the government to file a review petition just to save and protect the people involved in criminal cases but benefiting from the infamous NRO.
