ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari issued an ordinance on Friday night transferring his powers as the chairman, National Command Authority (NCA), to the prime minister.

The authority controls Pakistan's nuclear facilities. Other members of the NCA are defense minister, chairman joint chiefs of staff committee, chief of army staff, chief of air staff and chief of naval staff.

According to president's spokesman Farhatullah Babar, Zardari promulgated 27 more ordinances on Friday.

The ordinances were re-promulgated on the advice of Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gilani as the bills could not be passed from both the Houses of Parliament within the deadline i.e. November 28, 2009 set by the Supreme Court, he said.

The move came on the eve of the expiry of an amnesty on corruption cases protecting Zardari, his key allies and thousands of others, threatening to fling Pakistan into fresh political crisis.

The National Reconciliation Ordinance, commonly known as NRO, was promulgated in October 2007 by military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

Musharraf's decree quashed corruption charges against former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated two months later, her husband Zardari and other politicians in an apparent gesture of reconciliation to prolong his rule.

Zardari has rock-bottom approval ratings as Pakistan struggles with Taleban violence, a recession and stalled efforts on reform.

He spent several years in jail for corruption and is still referred to as "Mr Ten Percent" because of his reputation for taking kickbacks on deals.

Many lawyers argue that Zardari is immune from prosecution as president but political opponents say otherwise. Allies of the political opposition are also on the NRO list of beneficiaries.

"Another view is that no relief can be given against a crime, so the relief granted to him was illegal," said Siddiqul Farooq, spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) led by popular opposition leader Nawaz Sharif.

"The court may declare it unconstitutional and his election illegal," Farooq told AFP.

"We are advising him to resign on moral grounds," he added, quoting the example of an adviser in the Punjab provincial government who has already stepped down after his name was published on the list of NRO beneficiaries.

Weathering the worst political crisis of his rule so far, Zardari's government last March was forced to restore independent judges, who had been dismissed by Musharraf, after a nationwide protest.

On July 31, the new Supreme Court set a Nov. 28 deadline for the NRO to be approved by the Parliament or else it would lapse.

But the government is seen as too weak to win an extension. Last month the administration tabled the ordinance in Parliament but quickly withdrew it after sensing political opposition was too strong.

"The NRO will lapse after Nov. 28 and cases against beneficiaries will be deemed to be pending," senior lawyer Abid Hassan Minto told AFP.

"Cases can be reopened and convictions may be restored unless the government comes up with a separate order," he added.

Some analysts believe Zardari can stay in office only by agreeing to revoke Musharraf's 17th amendment to the constitution that gives the president the power to dissolve Parliament and sack the prime minister.

"We wanted to abolish the 17th amendment from day one but we wanted to do it through unanimous decision, as the 1973 Constitution was also approved unanimously," Zardari said in interview given overnight to a private television channel, according to state run news agency, Associated Press of Pakistan.

"According to our legal team, the president has indemnity and its eligibility cannot be challenged now," the agency quoting the president as saying.

Zardari said his eligibility as president was not even challenged by his rival candidates at the time of the elections, the state run news agency reported.

"On Nov. 28, nothing dramatic and unusual will happen. Life will move on," Babar, the spokesman for Zardari, told AFP.

"The court will decide. We will cross that bridge when we come to it."

Last week, a minister of state published the names of 8,041 people who have benefited from the amnesty, including Zardari and some Cabinet ministers.

The list is connected to 3,478 cases ranging from murder, embezzlement, abuse of power and write-offs of bank loans worth millions of dollars.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar were among more than 30 politicians who had cases withdrawn against them.

Analyst Talat Masood said the distraction posed by the president and ministers facing possible litigation would divert attention from the battle against Taleban fighters and suicide bombers.

"The opposition and other forces will continue pressure on the government to quit. Zardari will have to shed his powers to be able to survive," he told AFP.

- With input from agencies