A Backward Step

(The News): The loftily-titled National Reconciliation Ordinance [NRO]
promulgated on the eve of the presidential poll is a rather sordid
document that aims to whitewash the crimes of those politicians and
bureaucrats who made hay in the decade between two bouts of military
rule stretching from 1986 to 1999. It aims to grant an amnesty to all
those allegedly involved in the misuse of power and other
misdemeanours in those heady days and smoothens the way for the
selection of the president. Painstakingly thrashed out between
representatives of General Pervez Musharraf and PPP Chairperson
Benazir Bhutto, it paves the way to a power-sharing deal between the
former foes and perfectly captures the cynicism inherent in the
current murky political scenario.

The Ordinance is highly selective in its reach. It will withdraw all
cases against lawmakers and bureaucrats registered between January 1,
1986 and October 12, 1999 in which no conviction has been made. All
cases instituted by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) inside or
outside Pakistan during this period will also be withdrawn. It singles
out for favour the high and mighty who were busy with their hands in
the till during that inglorious decade. Its main beneficiaries are
likely to be Ms. [Benazir] Bhutto and her spouse Asif [Ali] Zardari
and a clutch of their cronies. It will also bring relief to a number
of other prominent luminaries, some of whom have since changed sides
and now grace the upper reaches of the government benches.
Parliamentarians seem to have been given new privileges to blatantly
misuse their powers, or at least receive special treatment, under the
Ordinance. The powers of NAB have been severely clipped, with special
committees on ethics to be set up in the National and [four]
provincial assemblies to clear any move by police to arrest lawmakers.
On the other hand, it conveniently leaves out of its embrace the
currently rebellious former Prime Minister [Muhammad] Nawaz Sharif,
against whom many of the more serious cases were instituted in 2000.
It has no crumbs of relief to offer the millions of ordinary criminals
who face charges for far more minor crimes. The MQM, a powerful ally
of the [Musharraf Military] Government, also stands to benefit through
the Ordinance following last-minute changes to the draft. Thousands of
its workers charged with serious offences during the period also stand
to get a clean chit.

The government is selling the Ordinance as an attempt to eschew the
politics of political vendetta and victimisation and is heralding its
promulgation as the dawning of a new era of tolerance and fair play.
It is nothing of the sort. It will be seen as nothing less than the
act of a beleaguered General turning the clock back and scuttling the
values and ideals espoused when he took power vowing to purge politics
of corruption. The PPP will come out of the episode no better. If
there were any doubts that the country’s largest party has sold its
democratic soul for the sake of its leaders’ skins the document should
dispel them brutally. The NRO has been mauled by the Opposition as
being nakedly opportunist, designed to further the interests of those
throwing a lifeline to the present dispensation and potentially
illegal. Even those on the treasury benches have made dissenting
noises and some are threatening a legal challenge once the
presidential election is safely over. As for the long suffering people
of the country, it seems like a retrogressive step harking back to an
earlier, darker age. The message that has been sent to ordinary
Pakistanis is that it pays to be a politician and it pays to involve
oneself in corrupt practices.

 Reconciled to Expediency

(DAWN): A law may be deemed necessary by those who frame it but that
consideration alone doesn’t make it right. While questions of
constitutionality are best answered by the experts, bad laws stick out
a mile and can be identified even by the untutored. The National
Reconciliation Ordinance [NRO] promulgated on Friday is a prime
example of a bad law even though it meets the yardstick of
enforceability. It favours select individuals or groups and
discriminates against others. In the case of NRO 2007, the prime
beneficiaries are Ms. Benazir Bhutto and her Pakistan People’s Party
as well as Mr. Altaf Hussain’s Muttahida Qaumi Movement [MQM]. General
Pervez Musharraf also gains indirectly because the Ordinance wins him
new supporters and rewards existing allies, thereby making his future
prospects more secure. While some are favoured, the amnesty’s
conviction clause and its 1986 to 1999 time frame have been so devised
as to exclude Mr. Nawaz Sharif from the list of beneficiaries. By
announcing a blanket amnesty for public officials accused of
corruption, the country’s taxpayers have been stripped publicly of any
lingering hope they may have harboured that the culprits would be
brought to justice one day. Spare a thought too for the family members
of those killed by political rivals, or the relatives of ordinary
citizens mowed down at a bus stop by terrorists toeing the party line.
True, pending criminal cases will be reviewed and not dismissed
outright. But the political pressure that could be brought to bear on
the review boards, especially by organisations with fearsome
reputations, may well reduce the exercise to a sham.

How will it be determined that a particular case was framed solely for
political reasons? Even if vendetta politics did play a role, that
does not necessarily mean that the case was entirely without
substance. If a criminal case has been on the books or pending in
court for 20 years, the fault for this inordinate delay lies with the
investigating agency and the prosecution. In this connection, NRO 2007
also papers over the state’s failure to deliver justice in a timely
manner to both the accused and the plaintiff.

Friday’s Ordinance is all about personal gain and has little to do
with ’national reconciliation’ — a misnomer in any case because all
stakeholders are not on board. The Ordinance strengthens the view that
crime goes unpunished in Pakistan, and that too with official
blessing. This is not the right signal to send to a public that is on
the verge of losing all faith in the system. If anything, the corrupt
and the criminal will be emboldened further by this get-out-of-jail-
free pass handed out by the government in the name of national
reconciliation. Nor can analogies be drawn with the truth and
reconciliation process that served South Africa well in the 1990s, for
the operational term there was ’truth’. The accused had to confess to
their crimes and express remorse, and even then not everyone was given
amnesty. What we have is not reconciliation but resignation to
expediency. Perhaps the only positive in all this is that in terms of
future accountability, elected representatives have been extended
privileges similar to those already in place for military officials
and members of the judiciary.

 Blanket Amnesty

(The Nation): The General calls it a milestone, independent voices
call it just about the most discriminatory piece of legislation in the
country’s history. Whether it actually does qualify the latter dubious
distinction or not, it is nevertheless not too proud a moment in our
constitutional history. The National Reconciliation Ordinance [NRO],
2007, was promulgated by the General this Friday. It gives near
blanket protection to the politicians who have been "falsely involved
for political reasons or through political victimisation in any case
initiated between the 1^st of January, 1986 to 12^th of October, 1999."
The full scope of this indemnity also covers bureaucrats and bankers.

The Ordinance is the final manifestation of the much talked about deal
between the military regime and the Pakistan People’s Party [PPP]. In
exchange for tacit support for the General in yesterday’s presidential
election, the PPP leadership managed to come out squeaky clean from
all the pending corruption cases against them. Now, the Party’s
Chairperson can enter the country without considering the prospect of
arrest. Though the Ordinance covers her rival PML-N as well, a
considerable number of cases have been instituted against the N League
after the specified time period. Asked during a live TV interview
whether this “reconciliation” will also extend to Mian Nawaz Sharif,
the General replied: "After the election, we will see about (Nawaz’s
return) and reconciliation." Clearly, this is a People’s Party affair;
the rest of the acquitted were just lucky enough to get in the way.

The most audacious thing about the Ordinance is the mockery it makes
of the basic concept of the rule of law. If Benazir Bhutto were
adamant that the cases against her were false, politically motivated
ones, it would be a seemingly incorrect but not absurd claim; court
cases being used for political victimisation is, after all, an old
practice throughout the developing world. But the way to get around
that is to have the courts themselves acquit the accused parties
through the law of the land. The sadder part is that even if this
piece of ’legislation’ were not an Ordinance, but a bill, put before
any chamber of legislature during the specified period, it might have
been passed by an overwhelming majority: why shouldn’t it? It grants
near total immunity to the ruling class. There has always been
disconnect between the rulers and the ruled, this Ordinance makes it
official: the rulers, from across the political divide, can get away
with anything.

 Unholy Alliance Signals Bad Days Ahead

(Pakistan Observer): A jubilant PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto
announced in London Thursday of finalisation of the deal with General
Pervez Musharraf and enforcement of Reconciliation Ordinance -
approval by the Government and the PPP is just a formality. The deal
culminated following a year long deliberations between the emissaries
of the two sides but it is evident the script of the deal was inked in
Washington and the credit goes to the United States [Bush-Cheney
Junta] for this as it wants to achieve its objectives in the region
through bringing the two personalities on a single platform who had
been at odds for eight long years.

Now the country is passing through the days where there will be
surprises, unpredictable developments and uncertainties very
frequently. Let us see what happens in the future but giving indemnity
to the corrupt people would surely open the gates for massive
corruption in the future. Under the draft National Reconciliation
Ordinance (NRO), indemnity has been offered across the board and it
will be for all the office-holders of political parties and
bureaucrats who were charged under different alleged corruption laws
and corrupt practices in the past. Another interpretation of the NRO
being advanced by the inside circles is that in future no
parliamentarian would be touched by the National Accountability Bureau
[NAB] or other agencies unless their cases are referred to the Ethic
Committee of Parliament.

Will the people of Pakistan accept such a blanket cover to corruption
but who cares when everything is at stake? Apparently the agenda of
the script writers was not to provide indemnity to the corrupt but to
raise the temperature in the war of terror. It is clear that both the
principal players will go all-out to attack the Islamists who are
usually [falsely and maliciously] called as “Taliban” and “Al-Qaeda”
members. The result would be more sufferings for Pakistan and its
people because the country would turn into the main battle field for
those opposing American hegemony and Washington and its supporters who
are bent upon eliminating to what they called “terrorism”. Kidnapping
of security forces personnel and recovery of mutilated bodies of three
hostages in South Waziristan is a clear pointer to the bad days ahead.