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At the most CJP can say that all NRO cases should be re-opened but no one will go down because these are cases and no one has been proven guilty yet.
ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court of Pakistan is yet to announce the decision on NRO cases as discussions are underway between judges of full court inside the committee room after the hearing of the case was completed.
Courts decision is delayed due to the ongoing consultation while public is desperately awaiting the outcome.
Earlier, during hearing of petitions against the NRO, the chief justice said even parliament has no right to change the basic structure of the constitution.
In accordance to oath, we are committed to safeguard the constitution, he remarked.
Earlier, the chief justice has warned the NAB Chairman Naveed Ahsan about a stern action if something false detected in the list. He ordered the NAB Chairman to sign the list if it was correct. On the courts order, he signed the list.
The court summoned the summary file of directives issued for the elimination Swiss cases when the hearing resumed on Wednesday. On the excuse of acting attorney general, the court summoned principal secretary and secretary law. Secretary law while presenting the file in the court said attorney general wrote the letter for withdrawal of cases on the directives of Asif Zardaris lawyer Farooq H Naek that was opposed by the than law minister Zahid Hamid.
The court has expressed displeasure on acting attorney general and said he hide the truth. The principal secretary of president Salman Farooqi informed the court that cases files are not present in presidency. The files were in president camp office in Rawalpindi.
The court advisor Mian Allah Nawaz in his arguments termed the NRO as ****** law and said any, which is beneficial for some individuals, is illegal. Another court advisor Shaiq Usmani said there is no legal ground of giving amenity under NRO. President could only issue the ordinance, which will convert into law by the assembly.
In his remarks, chief justice said how assembly could declare corruption as legal. The judges in their remarks said NRO is against Quranic teachings and amenity could only be given to political cases.
The judges said that if it were a national reconciliation, then Baloch leaders and Altaf Hussain should have been called to the country. During the final stages of the hearing, Salman Raja, Akram Chaudhry, Dr Farooq Hussain, Shahid Orakzai and Abdul Hafiz Pirzada closed their arguments.
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's Supreme Court was considering on Wednesday its ruling to challenge an amnesty decree that has protected President Asif Ali Zardari and some aides from graft charges.
A widely expected court decision to strike down the 2007 amnesty decree, introduced by former president Pervez Musharraf, would heap pressure on Zardari, even though he is protected from prosecution by presidential immunity.
The court said a ruling was due at 1130 GMT but more than three hours later there was no sign of a decision.
"If you read between the lines, the court is seized of the fact that this is a bad law, discriminatory and inherently violative of certain articles of the constitution," said Rashid Rehman, editor of the Daily Times newspaper.
"We do expect it to be struck down."
Musharraf introduced the amnesty that protected about 8,000 people, including politicians and civil servants, as part of a power-sharing deal brokered with Zardari's late wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, with U.S. and British encouragement.
Bhutto returned to Pakistan from self-imposed exile soon after the amnesty was introduced, but she was assassinated just over two months later while campaigning for a general election she had hoped to win.
Instead, Zardari led her party to victory in the February 2008 polls and he became president after Musharraf stepped down later that year.
Zardari's image has long been tarnished by allegedly shady deals during Bhutto's two terms as prime minister in the 1990s.
He says the charges were politically motivated. He was never been convicted but nevertheless spent 11 years in jail.
He is now deeply unpopular and his government is perceived as weak in the face of a Taliban insurgency and a struggling economy.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule that old corruption cases can be reopened if it rules the amnesty unconstitutional.
Among those protected by the amnesty are the interior and defense ministers and several of Zardari's top aides.
The government has said it will accept the court's decision but pressure is likely to mount quickly for officials facing charges to resign.
The United States, keen to see Pakistan widen its battle against Taliban militants on the Afghan border, is likely to be dismayed by the prospect of political turmoil distracting the government's attention.
(Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Bill Tarrant)