ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has declared National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) unconstitutional, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry announced the verdict of 17 member larger bench of Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The short verdict of the Supreme Court has declared NRO unconstitutional. And all the cases which have been sidelined after NRO have been revived once again. NRO is against the interests of the country. The provincial governments and prosecutors must help courts in NRO cases. All the beneciaries of NRO have to face the trial.

Earlier, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said that the provisional decision regarding NRO petitions will be announced at 4:30 pm, after the completion of the hearing of the NRO petitions.

The larger bench of Supreme Court consisting of 17 members started hearing the petitions on NRO. Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said to care taker Attorney General to produce the original file of the Swiss cases. The care taker Attorney General responded that the government has no availability of the original file of the Swiss cases.

Supreme Court of Pakistan

Farhatullah Babar, Presidential Spokesman said that Pakistan People’s Party government respects the courts and the verdict of the court.

President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari has immunity given by the constitution from all the cases. Under article 242 of the constitution the President Zardari has immunity from all the cases, he added.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed, former Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami said that the verdict of Supreme Court is the victory of the people of the country. President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari has the legal obligation to resign. All the corrupt people have to face accountability at the present moment. The judiciary has been independant and now it would provide justice to the public of the country, he added.

The National Reconciliation Order’s (NRO) beneficiaries include 34 politicians, Federal State Minister for Law Mohammad Afzal Sindhu told media.

The list also includes the major politicians of the country including Pakistan People’s Party leader President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari and Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain. There were 248 beneficiaries include politicians, bureaucrats and three ambassadors, he added. The NRO beneficiaries include President Asif Ali Zardari, Begum Nusrat Bhutto, Rehman Malik, Chaudhry Shaukat Ali, haji Kabeer Ahmed, Jahangir badar, Malik Mushtaq Awan, rana Nazeer Ahmed, mian Mohammad Rasheed, Tariq Anees, Chaudhy Abdul Hameed, Mian Tariq Mehmood, Haji Mohammad NawazAnwar Saifullah Khan, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Sardar Masood Leghari, Agha Siraj Durrani, ftab Ahmed Sherpao, Ghani-ur-Rehman, Haji Gul Sher Khan, Habibullah Kundi, Mirbaz Khan Khatran, Farooq Sattar, Babar Ghuri, Ishrat-ul-Ibad, Noman Sehgal, imran farooq, Shoaib Bokhari, waseem Akhtar, Saleem Shehzad, Qamar Khalid Younis and Safdar Bakri. There are seven cases on President Asif Ali Zardari and 72 cases on MQM leader Altaf hussain, he added.

- Shakeel Karar