No reconciliation, (Pakistan)

On 16 December, when the highest court in Pakistan struck down the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), it was not just a blow in favour of accountability, but also a blow to the first civilian government to function after years of military rule. The controversial NRO that then-president Pervez Musharraf promulgated on 5 October 2007 after the US and the UK helped broker a 'deal' between him and the late Benazir Bhutto of the Pakistan People's Party represented political convenience of the highest order. Under the NRO, all corruption and other criminal cases against some 8000 people, including Benazir Bhutto, her husband and current President Asif Ali Zardari and other politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen, were withdrawn to promote national reconciliation and pave the way for the return of exiled leaders. With the Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry declaring the NRO null and void, it meant that all cases against those who 'benefited' from the controversial NRO would be re-opened with retroactive effect. Ripples of insecurity spread fast among members of the current government, curbs on travel on the Interior Minister Rehman Malik and the Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar being the first visible outcomes of the order.

President Zardari's 10 December op-ed in the New York Times, followed soon thereafter. His view that no prime minister or president should face "judicial murder" made clear deep apprehensions about the Supreme Court verdict. But Pakistani political culture is not characterised by public officials resigning over allegations of misuse of authority or charges of corruption. It did not therefore come as a surprise when Zardari's spokesman Farhatullah Babar said, after the Supreme Court verdict, that there was no question of the President stepping down. Since 1988, four elected governments have been dismissed and accusations of corruption led the charge-sheet every time, with the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz group) each suffering twice when their governments were sent packing. Corruption in the country seems only to have increased; Pakistan, ranked 46 in Transparency International's global ranking of corruption, has climbed five places since last year.