ISRAR UL HAQUE After the Supreme Court's historical judgement on the infamous law, National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), certain quarters are agi tating that the corruption cases of President Asif Ali Zardari, now being a relic of the past, must not be reopened. However, it may be recalled that Mr Zardari, as well as Mohtarma Banazir Bhutto, were reportedly convicted by the Swiss Court. And that it was on their appeal that the sentences of six month imprisonment were held in abeyance. Moreover after the promulgation of the NRO, when the counsel from Pakistan moved an application before the Swiss Court for the withdrawal of the cases against President Zardari on the plea that there was no evidence; the court rebutted the plea and observed that it was wrong to say that there was no evidence against the accused. Thus, the incumbent president might have been convicted and sentenced to undergo imprisonment, even before the Supreme Court's verdict on the NRO. Besides, it is entirely wrong to say that during the prolong trial no evidence was found against Zardari in the cases in the Swiss Court. Furthermore as far as Mr Zardari's immunity under Article 248 of the constitution is concerned, it has been urged that the incumbent president cannot avail constitutional immunity in respect of the civil proceedings. A petition has been moved in the Supreme Court challenging the ultra vires of the Article 248 on the ground that it is repugnant to the injunction of Islam. The Holy Quran not only calls upon the believers to obey Allah and His Apostle, but it also calls upon them to follow the life and the conduct of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) as a model. The Holy Prophet (PBUH), despite being the God sent, temporal and spiritual supreme leader and authority of the Muslim ummah for all times to come never claimed any immunity for himself against doing wrong. Once the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in an assembly of his companions asked them to avenge any wrong that he might have done to anyone of them. One amongst them rose and said: "O' Apostle of Allah you had once beaten me." The Prophet (PBUH) immediately offered himself to be beaten back. Thereafter, he said that at that time he was bare bodied and the Holy Prophet (PBUH) raised up his shirt and asked him to go ahead. The companion advanced unto the Prophet (PBUH) and kissed his back. On another occasion when the Holy Prophet (PBUH) was approached by some of his close and dear companions to forgive or remit the punishment, of a lady who had committed theft, on the ground that she came from a very noble family, the Prophet (PBUH) spurned their request saying that "He would have awarded the same punishment, even if Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad (PBUH), would have committed the offence." He then proclaimed, for all times to come, that societies in the past had decayed and declined because they discriminated between the high and the low in the matter of retribution. In the dispensation of justice, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) did not discriminate even in disputes between a Muslim and a Jew. Once he decided a dispute in favour of a Jew and the Muslim was so outraged that he rushed down to Makkah and tried to instigate the kuffars to invade Madina. Therefore, in this context, Article 248 of the Constitution of Pakistan deserves to be struck down as repugnant to the injunctions of Islam. At the same time, the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association in an interview, which was recently aired on a private television channel, asserted that despite such immunity clause in the Italian constitution, the Italian Prime Minister and also a billionaire entrepreneur, Silvio Berlusconi, was hauled up by the Italian Criminal Court for having links with the Sicilian criminal association. Nevertheless, the incumbent leadership of Pakistan should learn some lesson from this and respect the Supreme Court's verdict on the NRO. Let a new era begin where peace with true justice will prevail The writer is a freelance columnist.