The Unimportant NRO
Now that it looks like the notorious National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) is not going to be passed by – or even presented in – the National Assembly, many have been quick to predict the end of the Zardari Presidency. While this is no doubt a setback for Zardari, he is not in any danger of losing his post or ending up in jail since article 148 of the Constitution protects the president from facing prosecution on criminal charges.
Most of the PPP leadership need not worry either. Only those who were specifically granted amnesty under the NRO – i.e. those whose cases were still pending or whose sentences were commuted after Musharraf introduced the ordinance – are at risk of facing trial or prison sentences. While the complete list of NRO beneficiaries has never been released, it is believed that it includes Interior Minister Rehman Malik and close Zardari ally Salman Farooqi. Outside of the PPP, it has been rumoured that JUI-F head and erstwhile coalition member Fazlur Rehman and former prime minister Zafrullah Jamali are among those who availed the benefits of the NRO.
But if Zardari so chooses, he can make all their problems vanish in an instant. Under the constitution, the president has the absolute right to issue pardons. Even when the Supreme Court challenged the NRO, it did not dispute that Musharraf could pardon whomever he chose; it was his unconstitutional sacking of the court that prompted the decision.
In recent months, Zardari has seen a weakening of his power, from having to restore the judiciary to the furor over the Kerry-Lugar Bill, because of public opinion. In this instance, too, he may have to appease his critics and sacrifice some of his closest allies in the government. Other than that, though, the controversy over the NRO will seem like so much hot air.
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As America’s new ally against ‘Those Who Would Do US Harm’,
Pakistan should seize the initiative, with their security
and technology capabilities, and construct offshoring
prisons for the millions of US prisoners who will have to
be released unless US tax revenues magically increase.
Pakistani tele-prisons would offer highest possibly security,
after all, who would try to escape? With modern internet and
television networking, any offshored tele-prisoner could
quickly and conveniently be tele-present with his or her
former family and associates in the US, they can attend
tele-universities, read the Great Books, or otherwise
improve themselves.
All this would be accomplished at a huge discount to the
US system, which costs American taxpayers an astounding:
“On average, it costs $20,000 per year to maintain one prisoner and $20,000 per year to staff, per prison cell. It costs $100,000 to build each prison cell, and actually $200,000 per cell, financed over a 25-year bond issue. Assuming 25 years between refurbishing and remodel, that’s $48,000 per year per prisoner per cell.” (2004)
California is much higher, approaching $100,000 pppc.
There are 2.2 million prisoners in US prisons, that’s a profit potential of up to $200B … PER … YEAR, more than the entire Pakistan GDP of $167B!
Think of the profit margin for Pakistan government, if some of those $1B’s in GWOT security aid funding were spent to build a tele-prison for those US prisoners-for-life who absolutely cannot be released!
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