Pak govt needs to come clean on NRO beneficiaries issue to avoid spat with SC: Editorial

Islamabad, Sep 28(ANI): An editorial in a leading Pakistan newspaper has said that it is time for the government to make amends in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) beneficiaries issue for its own cause.

"It must think through the whole case and present sound arguments during the review petition. It had so far not been able to present cogent arguments consistently before the court," The Daily Times quoted the editorial, as saying.

"Sackings and resignations of law ministry and National Accountability Bureau officials badly damaged the case of the government. It is time it made amends in its own cause," it added.

The editorial also claimed that the government has wisely chosen a middle path to avoid a head-on confrontation with the Supreme Court.

"The prime minister has stated that all the beneficiaries of the NRO will be removed from office. This was the first manifestation of the prime minister having accepted the logic of the NRO verdict, despite the pending review petition," the editorial said.

The Pakistan Law Ministry has reportedly prepared a list of 70 NRO beneficiaries who are still working in different government departments.he list reportedly carries the names of beneficiaries working in departments including the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDCL) and different ministries in the federal government.

Another list that carries the names of leading politicians and technocrats was made public last year by the then State Minister of Law and Justice Afzal Sandhu, which carried 248 names out of over 8,000 beneficiaries.

The NRO was an ordinance issued by the former President Pervez Musharraf in October 2007.

It granted amnesty to politicians, political workers and bureaucrats who were accused of corruption, embezzlement, money laundering, murder, and terrorism between January 1, 1986, and October 12, 1999, the time between two states of martial law in Pakistan.

It was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in December 2009, throwing the country into a political crisis. (ANI)