In a major setback to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, the country's top court set aside the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) which repealed all corruption cases against him. The Supreme Court decision apparently also left thousands of other officials, including Cabinet ministers loyal to Zardari, facing reopened corruption and other criminal cases.The Court said all corruption cases under NRO will be revived and that all orders and acquittals under the Ordinance will also be not valid.A 17-judge bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, which was hearing challenges to the NRO that granted amnesty to Zardari and over 8,000 other people, declared the law was "unconstitutional ab initio" and null and void.Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar, who was present in the apex court, told reporters that the ruling posed "no threat to the President."Zardari’s close aide Interior Minister Rehman Malik is among those whose convictions were quashed under the law.The bench also announced that monitoring committees will be constituted by the Chief Justice to supervise the prosecution of corruption cases in and outside Pakistan.Former Pak President General Musharraf issued the NRO in October 2007 as part of a deal brokered by the US and Britain to facilitate the return from self exile of Bhutto and Zardari.