Pakistan Bee » NRO

NRO beneficiary still possessing key post

PakBee — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 08:12:15 +0000

A beneficiary of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) is still holding a key post in the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) despite the Supreme Court’s judgment declaring the ordinance null and void.

According to official list of NRO beneficiaries, Anees Alam, ex-deputy director of the defunct Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), currently TDAP, is holding the office of Director Office of the Chief Executive Officer.

Anees Alam is at 111th position in the official list of NRO beneficiaries issued by the Law Ministry with his former boss ex-director general textile quota, Nayar Bari who is at 110th position.

There are 37 cases against these two officials including 16 cases of illegal allotment of textile quota, one case of forgery and fraud and 20 cases of obtaining illegal benefits in convince with the exporters.

Under the NRO, Anees Alam was reinstated after 15 years of suspension and posted as Director of CEO office in TDAP which is the main post after the CEO.

Sources in the TDAP revealed that in the absence of the CEO, the Director of the Office of CEO looks after every matter.

They pointed out that despite Supreme Court’s annulment of the National Reconciliation Ordinance and initiation of court proceedings against the beneficiaries, the TDAP CEO has not suspended him from service as of today.

When contacted, Anees Alam said he had faced these cases in court in the past alone and now again the court would decide his fate.

Media consultant of TDAP Ziauddin Agha while talking to media said that action would be taken under the rules and regulations of the authority.

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LHC grants bail to Malik

PakBee — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:02:59 +0000

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has approved the bail application of Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Tuesday.

The accountability court Rawalpindi had sentenced Malik three years imprisonment in each of two cases. Interior minister had filed a petition against the decision.

A division bench headed by LHC Chief Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif while hearing the application said the sentence awarded in absentia could not be suspended through an application filed under section 426 of criminal code.

The court has directed Rehman Malik to file a new petition under article 199 of constitution. He than filed a new petition for suspension of the punishment. The court has suspend the sentence and granted the bail on fresh application.

The court also directed Rehman Malik to submit bond of one lac each in both the cases and present two guarantors.

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Ahmed stopped from leaving country

PakBee — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:27:32 +0000

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Defence Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, whose name is on ECL, has been stopped from leaving the country for China here at Islamabad airport on Thursday.

The Federal Minister, along with his delegation, was scheduled to leave the country on PIA’s flight no PK-852 for China on an official visit. He was intercepted by the FIA staff at the Islamabad airport just before getting on board the flight.

The Defence Minister, whose name was placed on ECL after SC verdict on NRO, was informed of this fact and that he was not allowed to leave the country.

The Minister had an exchange of some hot words with the FIA staff when he was stopped, the sources said.

However, the Defence Minister talking to Geo News said he did not leave for the airport because he was informed by the Secretary Interior of having his name on ECL.

He said, “It is a shame for the nation that the Defence Minister has been stopped from leaving on an official visit.”

Thursday, December 17, 2009

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Supreme Court strikes down NRO

PakBee — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:42:47 +0000

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has struck down the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), saying it is unconstitutional.

A 17-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, in his short order, declared the ordinance as unconstitutional and illegal.

According to the judgment, the NRO is contrary to the equality guaranteed by the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan. Similarly, all the cases, disposed off because of the controversial ordinance, now stand revived as of Oct 5, 2007 position, said the judgment.

In addition, the court has ordered the government that it should immediately reopen the Swiss cases concerning President Asif Ali Zardari.

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 court’s 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 Zardari’s 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 filthy 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 an ordinance for national reconciliation, then Baloch leaders and Altaf Hussain should also 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 completed their arguments.

Another GOLDEN day to touch Milestone in Journey of PAKISTAN!

Supreme Court again

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MQM 3800 Criminal Cases

PakBee — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:37:10 +0000

The NRO mudslinging competition continues to go on, each party/individual boldly underplaying his/her own association with the controversial bill. What seriously amazes me, is that we still do not have access to the full and complete list of beneficiaries and are at the receiving end of confusing reports where the totals have seemingly fluctuated from a mere initial 600 to a now whopping 8000, seriously that’s one hell’uva discrepancy. While our two-timing politicians undermine their own headcount to say its between 34 to 300 victims, probably they hope to rely on the confusing mess to numb out the issue from the minds of the people of Pakistan. Such rampant corruption which as literally debilitated this nation, it is probably their right to know was eligible for this executive presidential pardon issued by Pervaiz Musharraf and its all the more important to know who cashed it in and what precisely was waived off, in the name of politically reconciliation.

The mudslinging is for now centered on some kingpins from the PPP but in the confusion it seems MQM is trying its damnedest to sneak under the media-frenzy hoping to walk away with mere statements like “National Accountability Bureau has no case against any MQM worker“. Karachi is a witness to the anarchy of the good ‘ol terror-filled days courtesy of the MQM. The time frame for pardoning of all criminal cases charged against them ironically range from 1986 and onwards.

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The NRO (Dis)Honor Roll

PakBee — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:43:53 +0000

Much has been discussed about the in-famous National Reconciliatory Ordinance where 5,800 crooks were pardoned by the then President Pervaiz Mushrraf as an attempt to broker a deal for his own extended stay as the President of Pakistan. This NRO in effect opened the flood gates to allow thousands of white collar criminals and murderers to return back to Pakistan and reestablish themselves to (re)loot Pakistan yet again, and by golly in the short spam of three years they have done a brilliant job, heck third time around they went straight into business, since now these were all hardened criminals now given an executive golden key to make millions courtesy of a selfish dictator who thought his own stay in Islamabad was more precious then the country itself

The NRO was brokered in late 2007 where then we all had raised some hell about this criminal bill, but the movers and shakers of the country thought it in “their” best interest to keep this list private and extend large pardoning pleas to all the beneficiaries, be it thousands of murderers in Karachi or the ruthless Mr. 10% criminal like Asif Zardari and his team cronies, all permitted to enter back into Pakistan with a precious to-die-for get-out-of-jail-card.

Now it seems that there is an attempt to turn the tables and some movers and shakers(?) within “the establishment” think that this is now an opportune time to make this list public after almost three years. We must understand this move is definitely a serious attempt to turn up the heat in Islamabad and make all these crooks a little uncomfortable (times-up) and possibly turn the tables, making way for another set of so-called cleaner leadership to assume power, which for now mostly means the Sharif Brothers

The list is endless and features criminal leaders from every corner of Pakistan, belonging to practically all parties which occupy our assemblies and ministries. It should be a shocking that it is at the hands of proven criminals that Pakistan is expected to come out of this economic and security crisis. It is this very same leadership that has been negotiating with the Americans, helping them (or not) in their war on terror and also guiding them in their efforts into Swat and Waziristan.

The list includes leaders from PPP, ANP, MQM, PML-F and some PML-N leaders (the main Sharif brothers were omitted as they then were not allowed to sleep with the enemy) [though they would have loved to]. The list is endless that if the people of Pakistan were to outlaw each and every politician from occupying public office, I assure you most of our parliament and cabinet would be found empty.

Dawn The list has names of about 5,800 people who were facing financial irregularities and criminal cases. The list obtained by Dawn shows that 3,775 cases (mostly criminal) were against leaders and workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). Leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party, Pakistan Muslim League-N, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) and Awami National Party are also among the beneficiaries. Prominent leaders and bureaucrats who enjoyed immunity under the NRO include President Asif Ali Zardari, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Nusrat Bhutto, former minister Yousuf Talpur, PPP secretary general Jehangir Badr, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani, secretary general to the president Salman Farooqi, former chairman of Pakistan Steel Mills Usman Farooqi, Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad, former interior minister Aftab Sherpao, former minister Anwar Saifullah, former MNA of N-League Haji Kabir, Agha Siraj Durrani, former provincial minister Ghaniur Rehman, Habibullah Kundi, Sardar Mansoor Leghari, Mir Baz Khetran, Aslam Hayyat Qureshi, Saeed Mehdi, Javed Qureshi, Siraj Shamsuddin and former secretary to the president Rasool Baksh Raho.

Officials of the law ministry and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) were not sure whether cases against Mian Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and PML-N leader Ishaq Dar, including the Hudaibya Paper Mills case, had been settled under the NRO or were still pending in courts….

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NRO Beneficiaries List Issued

PakBee — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:36:05 +0000

ISLAMABAD: Government of Pakistan Saturday released the list of the beneficiaries of the National Reconciliation Ordinance on the directives of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.

State Minister for Law Afzal Sindhu in a news conference here said that a total of 8041 people including 34 politicians, bureaucrats and three ambassadors took benefit from the ordinance.

On top of the list is the name of President Asif Ali Zardari while his several close associates, both political and bureaucratic, including Rehman Malik, Salman Farooqi and his brother Usman Farooqi and Hussain Haqqani are also included, he said.

The list, which also reflects a brief introduction of the cases dropped against each name under the NRO, also includes the name of serving and former ministers, federal and provincial secretaries, ex-chief secretaries, existing or former members of the national and provincial assemblies and others, he added.

The politicians that benefited from the ordinance include Nawaz Yousaf Talpur, Ex-MNA and former minister, Nusrat Bhutto, Ex-MNA and the PPP Secretary General Jehangir Badar, Ex-minister for commerce and Presently Defense Minister Ahmad Mukhtar, Ex-MNA Malik Mushtaq Ahmed Awan, Ex-MNA Rana Nazir Ahmed, Ex-MPA Mian M Rashid, Ex-MPA Tariq Anees, Ex-MPA Mian Tariq Mehmood Dina, Ex-Minister of education Sindh Agha Sirajuddin, Former Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao and Ex-Provincial minister Ghani-ur-Rehman, he said.

Ex-senator Haji Gulsher, Ex-Provincial Minister Habibullah Khan Kundi, Ex-MNA Mir Baz Muhammad Khan Khethran, Ex-Federal Minister Anwar Saifullah Khan, Ex-Provincial Minister Sardar Mansoor Laghari, Ex-Mayor Sargodha Ch Abdul Hameed, Ex-chairman Zila Council Lahore Ch Shaukat Ali, Ex-MNA Haji Kabir are also included in the list.

Haji Nawaz Khokhar late, Altaf Hussain, Babar Ghouri, Farooq Sattar, Saleem Shahzad, Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad, Ch, Haji Qadeer, Malik Mushtaq Awan, Mian Muhammad Rasheed, Mian Tariq Mehmood, Shoaib Bukhari are also included in the list of Politicians who took benefit from NRO.

Amongst Government servants and others, who had benefited from NRO and got themselves cleared from NAB cases include Ex-Additional Director General FIA and Presently Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Pakistan’s Ambassador in the US Husain Haqqani, Principal Secretary to the President Suleman Farooqi, Ex-Advisor to Prime Minister A R Siddiqi, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to UK Wajid Shams-ul-Hassan, Ex DG Intelligence Bureau Brig Imtiaz, Ex-MD Printing Corporation of Pakistan Pir Mukarram.

The minister said that the number of politicians who benefited from the NRO is very few. Out of total 8041 persons who benefited from the law 7793 belong to Sindh province, he said.

“The spouse of the prime minister was not among the beneficiaries of NRO,” the state minister said. The minister said that three diplomats, including Hussain Haqqani, Wajid Shams-ul-Hasan and AR Siddiqui also benefited from the law.

Sindhu said that total 71 cases including 31 murders and 11 attempts to murder against MQM chief Altaf Hussain were withdrawn under the Ordinance. Among other MQM members, one case of Dr Ishratul Ibad was withdrawn, 23 of Farooq Sattar, 5 of Babar Ghauri, one of MNA Noman Sehgal, 18 of Dr Imran Farooq, 21 of Shoaib Bukhari, 7 of Wasim Akhtar, 6 of Salim Shehzad, 12 of Kanwar Khalid Younis and 16 cases of Safdar Baqiri were taken back.

Answering to a question, he said, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani was honorably acquitted by the court.

The cases against politicians were constructed for political victimization, he said, adding that, Cases against PPP leadership were made during the period of Chief Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) Nawaz Sharif for that he has regretted the act.

It was also mentioned in the charter of democracy that most of the cases were constructed to victimize political opponents, he said. Cases made during the period of former President Farooq Leghari were also based on malafide intentions, he said.

Till 28 November, 2009, NRO is protected under constitution and it will lapse after 28 November, he said. Situation will get cleared after November 28. We will accept the verdict of Supreme Court on the issue, he said.

If any beneficiary of NRO found guilty will be dealt in accordance with the law, State Minister for Sindh said this while answering to a question. “We will accept the verdict of Supreme Court with open heart. We will accept the court decision even against President. We must live in the Present,” Sindhu added.

“The article 48 of the Constitution provides amenity to the President. President is symbol of federation. We must honor the office of President,” he said.

Beneficiaries of NRO may be politicians, may be bureaucrats will be dealt according to law, he said.

“We had pressure of NRO even before elections. It was misinterpreted and people were misguided on the subject during election campaign. We contested election under NRO. I do not have any moral pressure. Pressure should be on those who constructed baseless cases,” he said.

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