What Is NRO ( Pakistan politics), Understanding NRO

Definition:

• The NRO ( National Reconciliation Ordinance) was an Ordinance issued by General Pervaiz Musharraf on 5th October 2007.

Overview:

 • It was an amnesty scheme for those politicians, political workers, and bureaucrats who were accused of corruption, robbery, money laundering, terrorism, and murder between 1 January 1986 and October 12, 1999.

• The supreme court of Pakistan declared this Ordinance unconstitutional on 16 December 2009.


 • This supreme court declaration threw the country into a crisis.


 • The motto of the ordinance was, to allow Benazir Bhutto ( the once prime minister of Pakistan) to return to Pakistan from exile without any legal consequence due to some pending politically motivated corruption cases.


 • The ordinance was suspended by the former Chief Justice, Saad Bashir on 12 October 2007, but he was dismissed by Musharraf. The new Chief Justice, Abdul Hameed Dogar revived it again on 27th February 2008.


 • A list of the beneficiaries of NRO was released in 2009, consisting of 8041 names of bureaucrats and some politicians.

 • On 16 December 2009, the supreme court declared NRO unconstitutional. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry headed the bench.