NRO case: SC disposes of plea against Musharraf, Zardari and Malik Qayyum

Khudayar Mohla –
Supreme Court on Friday disposed of a plea filed against former presidents retired army chief Pervez Musharraf, Asif Ali Zardari and Attorney General for Pakistan Malik Qayyum, seeking recovery of losses that dented national kitty in consequence of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) promulgation during 2007.
Advocate Feroz Shah Gillani, president of Lawyers Foundation for Justice had filed the plea during July 2018 for recovery of the amount from the respondents. However, in November 2018 the apex court sought concise statement of the petitioner in order to decide maintainability of the matter before further adjudication.
On Friday, a three-member bench led by the Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar observed that the bench shall not proceed further in the matter as the respondents had submitted details of their assets on record.
Over absence of the petitioner in the proceeding on medical grounds, the Chief Justice ruled that Gillani may further pursue the matter before proper forum for remedy saying the petitioner already had submitted a concise statement in the current public interest litigation. Later, the bench dismissed the plea.
The Petition:
Making Pervez Musharraf, Asif Ali Zardari and Malik Abdul Qayyum as respondents, petitioner Feroz Shah Gillani had requested the Court for directives to recover “huge amounts of public money” misappropriated and wasted by the respondents through unlawful means “already on record in different judgments of the Supreme Court and high court”.
He had contended that Pervez Musharraf subverted the Constitution by declaring emergency followed by the promulgation of the NRO, through which criminal and corruption cases against politicians, including Zardari, were “arbitrarily withdrawn” causing huge financial losses to the national exchequer.
“Since the SC in its landmark judgment of December 16, 2009 has declared the NRO void ab initio, the respondents are liable to compensate the losses and the damage suffered by the exchequer of debt-ridden Pakistan, including the loss of $60 million stashed in Swiss banks allegedly by Zardari,” the petitioner said.
Gillani submitted that Malik Qayyum had written a letter to the attorney general for Geneva to withdraw criminal and civil proceedings against Asif Ali Zardari, but the Supreme Court in its 2009 judgment held that Qayyum had written the letter in his personal capacity, against the Rules of Business, 1973.
“The actions of Pervez Musharraf and Malik Qayyum by promulgating the NRO caused huge losses amounting to billions of rupees to debt-ridden Pakistan. Both willfully violated the oath of office to the detriment of the country in violation of the rule of the law, particularly of Articles 2, 2A, 25, 227 of the Constitution,” the petitioner had alleged.