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| Who will catch the thieves? Not NAB under Sindhu |
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Sunday, November 22, 2009
By Muhammad Ahmad Noorani
ISLAMABAD: Did the PPP state minister for law, Mohammad Afzal Sindhu, on Saturday defy the July 31 judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan? It appears so as Sindhu, in his personal legal opinion given at his news conference on Saturday, did not agree to the SC judgment.
Sindhu had said the benefits of NRO are still valid and another apex court judgment is required to re-open the cases already closed. As minister in charge of the NAB, which has to catch the thieves, his opinion is in direct conflict with what he is required to do after November 28, when he has to arrest the culprits.
Sindhu, however, while talking to The News defended his stance, saying he had not committed any contempt of court by making this statement.
The July 31 judgment in Para 187 reads: “It may be noted that such ordinances were continued in force throughout under a wrong notion that they had become permanent laws. Thus, the fact remains that on the touchstone of the provisions of articles 89 and 128 read with Article 264 of the Constitution and Section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, only such rights, privileges, obligations, or liabilities would lawfully be protected as were acquired, accrued or incurred under the said ordinances during the period of four months or three months, as the case may be, from their promulgation, whether before or after November 3, 2007, and not thereafter, until such ordinances were enacted as acts by parliament or the concerned provincial assembly with retrospective effect.”
According to experts, though there are different interpretations of the NRO, but according to the law and Constitution, the interpretation of the apex court is always considered final and is binding on all individuals and organs of the state to be followed.
The experts say that the Supreme Court of Pakistan has yet to decide the fate, constitutionality and validity of the NRO, and, in accordance with the detailed judgment, the apex court has the final authority to decide whether any ordinance or law is in accordance with the basic spirit and structure of the Constitution, and whether or not it could be declared ab initio void right from the day of its promulgation.
According to Barrister Akram Sheikh, keeping aside the constitutionality of the NRO, which is yet to be decided by the apex court, the 14-member bench of the Supreme Court has made it very clear in its detailed judgment without any ambiguity that any benefit drawn after passing of four months from the day of promulgation of any ordinance, will have no legal value.
“Thus all the cases closed under the caption of NRO after 2nd day of February 2008 will be re-opened on November 28, 2009, with passage of fresh period given by the Supreme Court in its July 31 judgment,” the experts concluded.
However, another difference of opinion between the legal experts emerged after the announcement of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Babar Awan on the floor of the National Assembly that the government had decided in principle to withdraw the NRO bill.
A majority of these experts, including Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, opined that the cases stood re-opened right after this announcement. However, PPP’s Law Minister Sindhu insisted that these cases would be re-opened after November 28.
On Saturday to save the skin of the top leadership of his party, Sindhu, however, changed his interpretation and declared that another apex court verdict is needed for re-opening of these corruption cases.
While talking to this correspondent after his historic press conference, Sindhu said he has the right to give his own interpretation of the judgment. “I did not say that this judgment is not clear, but it is my view that according to Article 264 of the Constitution and Clause 6 of the General Clauses Act, the cases once closed are considered as past and closed transaction,” he said.
When asked that the apex court, in the same detailed judgment, had declared that these cases could not be considered as past and closed transactions, Sindhu said that he was tired and was not in a mood of talking in detail on these things.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
