Asma Jahangir - Pakistan, the Rule of Law and the NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance)

Asma Jahangir is the Chair of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and a special 'rapporteur' for the UN on Freedom of Religion and Beliefs. She has denounced a Supreme Court Ruling in Pakistan with regard to the 'National Reconciliation Ordinance' there on the grounds that it threatens both the rule of law and the country's survival as a democracy.

For context, Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani president, has also accused those demanding his resignation of threatening the country's democratic system.

In a speech on Sunday 27th December marking the second anniversary of the assassination of his wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Zardari said opponents working to bring down his government were "colluding" with anti-government fighters. Benazir Bhutto's killers are said to be still at large.

The speech was Zaidari's first public appearance since the supreme court struck down the amnesty which to that point had protected him and several other senior ruling PPP  party officials from corruption charges.

In the meantime, there are daily bombings around the country killing hundreds of Pakistani citizens. 

From The Wall Street Journal, December 27, 2009

"Democracy Is the Greatest Revenge:
Benazir Bhutto's assassination didn't derail Pakistan's development."

By Asif Ali Zardari

"Two years ago the world stopped for me and for my children. Pakistan was shaken to its core and all but came apart. Women everywhere lost one of their greatest symbols of equality. And Islam, our great religion, lost its modern face.

On Dec. 27, 2007, my wife, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated. She was the bravest person I have ever known, and the second anniversary of her death is an appropriate occasion to reflect upon what she achieved for our country,and how her legacy must be preserved against those who would return Pakistan to darkness".