ISLAMABAD: Former president Pervez Musharraf has described as a 'mistake' his decision to promulgate the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), a graft amnesty that was recently struck down by Pakistan's Supreme Court.
The apex court last week declared the NRO void, sparking the worst political crisis since the Pakistan People's Party came to power in last year's general election.
President Asif Ali Zardari and several close aides are among the over 8,000 people who benefited from the graft amnesty.
'The one clarification that I will make is that I committed this mistake on the strong advice of the political leadership at that time who are now blatantly disowning connections with it.
'My interest was only national, with absolutely no personal bias or agenda,' Musharraf wrote on his page on the social networking website Facebook.
Musharraf, who has been active on Facebook for the past few weeks and has over 60,000 fans, including hundreds from India, was responding to a question.
The former military ruler took time off to respond to three questions from the public, including what compelled him to promulgate the NRO in October 2007.
He said he would have to a keep a more detailed response pending for the time being 'because of certain political sensitivities'. However, Musharraf promised that he would 'take the nation on board at the appropriate time'.
To a related question about the NRO bringing 'corrupt politicians to power' and allowing Zardari to be elected president, Musharraf wrote: 'NRO may have allowed Asif Zardari or corrupt politicians to contest elections but it certainly was not the cause of their coming to power. NRO is not responsible for electing the PPP as the majority party or allowing Asif Zardari to win an election.
'NRO is not responsible for corrupt politicians sitting in assemblies, or being appointed as ministers. All this happened through the votes of the people of Pakistan. NRO is not responsible for all parliamentarians of provincial and national assemblies and Senate having overwhelmingly voted for Asif Zardari as president,' he said.
'The nation has to learn to cast their votes for the right person and the right party,' he added.
Musharraf also defended the military operation against radical elements who had holed up in the Lal Masjid in Islamabad.
'The Lal Masjid operation is a case study of how an appropriately timed, meticulously planned and boldly executed operation launched in the supreme national interest can be distorted by vested interests who want to present it as a disaster,' he wrote.
He said claims that hundreds of innocent people were killed were an 'absolute lie'. -DawnNews
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