Pakistani amnesty from prosecution expires

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- The National Reconciliation Ordinance, which protected Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and thousands of others from prosecution, expired Saturday.

Zardari, in an interview Friday with Express News, said he still has immunity through his office, CNN reported. Farhatullah Baber, a Zardari spokesman, said he is "absolutely not concerned."

"The matter is now before the courts, and it's whatever the courts decide," Baber told CNN. "We will cross that bridge when it comes."

Zardari's party dropped an effort a few weeks ago to extend the amnesty because of intense opposition from other groups.

The ordinance was adopted in 2007 under then-President Pervez Musharraf to allow Zardari and his wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, to return to Pakistan without facing trial for corruption. Bhutto was assassinated on Dec. 27, 2007, at a campaign rally.