NRO

The full bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan is to start hearing the cases against the infamous NRO from 7th December, 2009. So this is the last chance of commenting on it.

As a result of the recent disclosures about NRO the PPP has emerged as a party of pretty women and ugly men, while the MQM has become “mera qasoor maaf”.

One of the obvious shortcomings of the non-law NRO is that it does not define the terms used in it. It speaks of the withdrawal of “political cases”, on the basis of which criminal and corruption cases have been withdrawn. If political is interpreted as criminal or corrupt then politics becomes tantamount to crime and corruption, a notion that must be universally condemned.

The most significant action under the NRO was the withdrawal of the Cotecna kick-back case from the Swiss courts. The fact is that Cotecna had bribed the government functionaries heavily to win a contract for assessing customs duty on imports at Pakistani ports. They used this position to make a list of the cosigners of those sensitive and defense related shipments which were exempted by government order from being examined by Cotecna; and sold it to the foreign agencies that had helped it in obtaining the contract. From these lists they were able to establish the identity of the Kahuta supply network which provided precision equipment and instrumentation for the uranium gas centrifuges being built there. Extremist Christian elements dubbed the Kahuta supply network, a legitimate business proposition, as the Khan nuclear proliferation network.

It is a pity that the brilliant Pakistani scientists who had made a technological breakthrough in which most western countries had failed, instead of being internationally acclaimed and rewarded were treated as wanted criminals.

In any case, the withdrawal of the case against Cotecna was abetment of international crime and treason against Pakistan. The NRO must be declared null and void ab initio and at least the Cotecna case must be reopened and the government of Pakistan should claim damages of at least ten billion dollars against Cotecna.