'NRO contributes negatively to prospects of democracy'

Three major developments, Presidential election, legislators resignations and National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), of the past week have contributed negatively to the prospects of democracy and free and fair general elections in the country.
Just ahead of Presidential election, almost 200 National and Provincial legislators (out of a total of 1170 or about 17 percent) resigned from their elected positions as a protest to General Pervez Musharraf's candidature in Presidential election while he also holds the post of Chief of the Army Staff. This was reported by Pildat in an analysis on recent political developments in the country.
The report said majority of those resigned belonged to the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), the bulk of whose legislators were elected from those areas of the NWFP and Balochistan where violent anti-government movements are fast overshadowing electoral politics.
These resignations have the potential to further strengthen the argument in these areas that electoral politics is nothing but a wastage of time and that the real struggle is the armed movement employing suicide bombings as the deadliest and most effective tool to wage the struggle.
The resignations also brought forward the issues of incompetence, petty differences, lack of vision and leadership among political parties to the fore, further undermining public trust in them. These sad developments have further depressed an already disillusioned electorate, the report further said.
Just a few hours before the Presidential Election, General Pervez Musharraf promulgated the National Reconciliation Ordinance, 2007, which provided for automatic withdrawal of all corruption cases filed against holders of public office before October 12, 1999.
The ordinance was the culmination of the dialogue going on between General Musharraf and Ms Benazir Bhutto of PPP for the last many years. Although the Ordinance will benefit other politicians also, the PPP was its main advocate and vetted the draft ordinance before it was promulgated.
The PPPP, in return, did not resign from the legislatures. Had PPPP also resigned alongwith All Pakistan Democratic Movement (APDM) legislators, it would have created a major issue of lack of legitimacy for General Musharraf's election as President.
There is an across the board resentment against General Musharraf and all politicians resulting from the ordinance. People perceive the ordinance as a license for committing large-scale corruption by holders of public office, the report said.