PTI Founder Chairman Imran Khan has told President Dr. Arif Alvi not to consider any requests for pardoning his convictions, according to party spokesman Raoof Hasan.
Speaking to The News on Monday, PTI’s information secretary explained that the President has the power to pardon sentences from any court, and there have been requests, including from social media, for President Alvi to pardon Khan’s convictions.
Following these requests, Imran Khan sent a message to the President, asking him not to grant a pardon. Hasan emphasized that Imran Khan would not accept such a pardon, and he reiterated that the President has the constitutional power to pardon any convict.
Article 45 of the Constitution outlines the President’s powers, stating, “The President shall have the power to grant pardon, reprieve, and respite, and to remit, suspend or commute any sentence passed by any court, tribunal or other authority.”
There is some debate among constitutional experts and legal minds regarding whether the President can act independently or requires advice from the Prime Minister to pardon, remit, or suspend any sentence under Article 45.
Last August, after Imran Khan’s conviction in the Toshakhana case, senior lawyer Sardar Latif Khosa noted that the President, either on his own discretion or on the advice of the Prime Minister, can pardon or remit sentences under Article 45. He emphasized that there is no restriction on the President’s power to grant pardon, a practice observed worldwide.
While the Islamabad High Court has suspended Imran Khan’s sentence for the Toshakhana case, he was convicted in three cases just before the February 8 general elections. In the Cipher case, he and Shah Mehmood Qureshi were sentenced to ten years. Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were later convicted in the NAB’s Toushakhana case and the illegal Nikah case, receiving sentences of 14 years and seven years, respectively.
Following the PTI’s success in the general elections, supporters began demanding a pardon for Imran Khan’s sentences. Legal challenges have been submitted in the Islamabad High Court against all three convictions.