Fear of opening up of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) by deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary after his restoration has primarily dissuaded Pakistan People's Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Zardari from agreeing with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to reinstate the deposed justices. Zardari himself and the assassinated former prime minister Benazir were principal beneficiaries of the NRO, which was promulgated by President Pervez Musharraf to dispense with their and others' corruption cases. Besides, Rehman Malik, advisor to the prime minister on interior, who is the topmost aide and confidant of Zardari, specifically on the issue of the sacked judges, benefited from the NRO in the shape of scrapping of his cases that were being heard in different anti-corruption courts. He has never been in favor of the deposed chief justice's return and has been acting as Zardari's mouthpiece, a role assigned to him by the PPP leader. There is a long list of PPP beneficiaries apart from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which also got thousands of criminal cases eliminated under the NRO. The number of the MQM people, who benefited from this unique law, is exceedingly more than those of the PPP. But PPP beneficiaries are more high profile politically than all others. Salman Farooq, now appointed as ambassador at large by Zardari, who, since his contractual re-employment, is busy working on how to solve the killing electricity shortage. Then, there is Siraj Shamsuddin, who was made principal secretary to the prime minister by Zardari. The PPP chief's close friends including Zulfikar Mirza Agha Siraj Durrani and Pir Mazharul Haq were also exonerated of different charges under the NRO. Jehangir Badar, Malik Mushtaq Awan and Navid Qamar figure in this list as well. To translate the understanding reached with Benazir Bhutto for “reconciliation”, Musharraf promulgated the NRO on Oct 5 last, a day before his re-election as president, to tell her that he has kept his part of the deal. It was because of this unprecedented law that the PPP had not boycotted the presidential election. However, what was tormenting for Zardari and Ms. Bhutto was that a Supreme Court bench headed by the then Chief Justice, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary, had stayed the operation of the NRO directing that the decision of the lowers courts taken under it should not be implemented until the final disposal of the case by the apex court panel. This had scuttled the NRO and agonized the former ruling couple. __
