Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesman Rauf Hassan has claimed that the party’s founder chairman Imran Khan has sent a message to President Arif Alvi that he does not want remission of his sentences under the presidential authority under any circumstances.
Speaking to The News, the party’s information secretary said the president has the constitutional authority to pardon a sentence awarded by any court. He said there were demands from various quarters, including social media, that President Alvi should pardon Imran Khan’s sentence.
Rauf Hassan said that given such demands, Imran Khan has sent a message to President Arif Alvi that he should not waive the sentences. The party’s founding chairman will not accept any such apology, he said, adding that the president has the power to pardon any convicted criminal. Article 45 of the Constitution is about this subject.
The article states that the President shall have the power to pardon, postpone, and withhold for some time, and to commute, suspend or change the sentence awarded by a court, tribunal, or other competent authority. Many constitutional experts and legal experts think that the President can pardon or suspend someone’s sentence only on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, but others think that the President can take this step voluntarily and for this, he does not need the recommendation of the Chief Executive.
In August last year, after the Islamabad District Court convicted Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case, senior lawyer Sardar Latif Khosa said that the President can overturn or pardon any sentence under Article 45 at his discretion or on the advice of the Prime Minister.
He said there was no restriction on the president’s power to grant pardons. He added that heads of state all over the world have the power to pardon, postpone, and withhold the sentence of any offender for some time.
Imran Khan convicted in three consecutive cases
Although Imran Khan’s conviction suspended by the Islamabad High Court last year. Before the February 8 general elections, Imran Khan convicted in three consecutive cases. In the cipher case, he convicted along with Shah Mehmood Qureshi and sentenced to ten years in prison. Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi later convicted in two cases (NAB’s Tosha Khana case and the illegal marriage case).
Both were sentenced to 14 years in jail in the Toshakhana case and seven years in the illegal marriage case. All three sentences were handed down a week before the general election.
After the victory of a large number of PTI-backed candidates in the general elections, PTI supporters have started demanding the President pardon Imran Khan’s sentence. Imran Khan and his wife’s legal team have already challenged the three convictions in the Islamabad High Court.