(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-27 22:07

ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court of Pakistan Wednesday fully restored the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), according to a court statement.

A five-member bench including Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar vacated the stay on sections 6 and 7 of the NRO and directed all the courts to act according to the law, said the court statement.

The court also dismissed three petitions out of five petitions challenging the NRO due to non-prosecution.

The National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) 2007, promulgated by President Pervez Musharraf on the demand of assassinated PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto, provides amnesty to public office- holders charged in different corruption cases between 1986 and 1999.

The petitioners asked for the suspension of sections 6 and 7 of the NRO. They stated that the NRO was a "misnomer" since it had resulted from a "deal" aiming at "personal reconciliation for personal gains" between the federation and some selected political parties.

They stated that the respondents including Bhutto had made a " deal" with Musharraf to share power, adding that Bhutto and other party leaders were facing cases of "plundering" billions of rupees.

On October 12, 2007, a four-member supreme court bench, headed by then Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, ruled that no one could benefit from it before a final decision of the court.