Islamabad:
It's what allowed Benazir Bhutto and husband Asif Zardari to return to Pakistan, but now, the same law that saved Zardari could be his undoing.
The National Reconciliation Order ,or NRO, was issued by Pervez Musharraf when he was President; it scrapped all corruption cases against politicians and bureaucrats filed between January 1986 and October 1999, on the grounds that they may have been politically motivated.
In July this year, Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled that the NRO had to be ratified by Parliament within 4 months. Failing that, the court said, the ordinance would lapse, allowing cases against politicians to be reopened.
But the Opposition threatened a countrywide protest if the NRO was taken to Parliament, forcing the Prime Minister to abandon the move. More worrying, the ruling party's main ally threatened that its members would not support the bill.
"The sense of the house was not to bring NRO in parliament, and so we did not make it an ego issue," said Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani .
The damage for President Zardari could be significant. He's already under pressure to resign for failing to revoke sweeping Presidential powers that include the right to dissolve Parliament. His isolation within his own party has also been growing.
The National Reconciliation Order ,or NRO, was issued by Pervez Musharraf when he was President; it scrapped all corruption cases against politicians and bureaucrats filed between January 1986 and October 1999, on the grounds that they may have been politically motivated.
In July this year, Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled that the NRO had to be ratified by Parliament within 4 months. Failing that, the court said, the ordinance would lapse, allowing cases against politicians to be reopened.
But the Opposition threatened a countrywide protest if the NRO was taken to Parliament, forcing the Prime Minister to abandon the move. More worrying, the ruling party's main ally threatened that its members would not support the bill.
"The sense of the house was not to bring NRO in parliament, and so we did not make it an ego issue," said Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani .
The damage for President Zardari could be significant. He's already under pressure to resign for failing to revoke sweeping Presidential powers that include the right to dissolve Parliament. His isolation within his own party has also been growing.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
