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14 ordinances including NRO lapse today

* President repromulgates 22 ordinances out of 37 referred to parliament by Supreme Court

By Zulfiqar Ghuman

ISLAMABAD: The controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) and 14 other ordinances will cease to exist today (Saturday) as the president on Friday repromulgated 22 of the 37 ordinances referred to parliament by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court, in its July 31 verdict, had given these ordinances a life of 120 days and asked parliament to take a decision on these ordinances particularly the NRO by November 28. The government had, however, decided not to legislate on the NRO after the political parties and the PPP government’s coalition partners opposed to protect the NRO through parliament.

The legal experts have divergent views about the status of the NRO and the cases wrapped up under it. Some say that these cases will automatically stand reopened after the expiry of the NRO while others say that the courts have to be moved to reopen them for trial.

These ordinances were promulgated by former president Pervez Musharraf before and after the imposition of the November 3, 2007 emergency, and were exempted from parliamentary approval in the revocation of emergency order of December 15, 2007.

Parliament held two sessions after the Supreme Court’s decision but the government did not legislate on any of these ordinances. Though the government tried to pass the NRO after rushing it through the National Assembly Standing Committee, the non-cooperation of the political parties forced it not to bring the NRO to parliament for legislation.

Of the 37 ordinances, the government had tabled 34 ordinances in both Houses of parliament but they were not put before the Senate or the National Assembly for passage.

After failing to get parliament’s backing for the NRO, the government apparently lost its interest and did not press for the passage of other ordinances including some important ones and this led it to their repromulgation.

The ordinances which have been repromulgated are: The Code of Criminal Procedure (Second Amendment) Ordinance, the National Commission for Human Development (Amendment) Ordinance, the Arbitration (International Investment Disputes) Ordinance, the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics Ordinance, the Police Order (Amendment) Ordinance, the Patents (Second Amendment) Ordinance, the Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance, the Federal Public Service Commission (Amendment) Ordinance, the Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan (Re-organization and Conversion) Ordinance, the Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan Ordinance, the National Disaster Management Ordinance, the Competition Ordinance, the Islamabad Capital Territory Private Education Institutions Ordinance, the Recognition and Enforcement (Arbitration Agreements and Foreign Arbitral Awards) Ordinance, the Pakistan Penal Code (Third Amendment) Ordinance, the Islamabad Consumer Protection (Amendment) Ordinance, the Price Control and Prevention of Profiteering and Hoarding (Amendment) Ordinance, the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority Ordinance, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (Amendment) Ordinance and Transplantation of Human Organs Ordinance.

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