Terror convicts: Sentence remission challenged in SC

An applicant asked whether the government could negotiate with convicts for release in violation of the Article 45.

ISLAMABAD: A petition was moved in the Supreme Court on Monday seeking a declaration that the federal government cannot recommend collective pardon, or remission to any group of prisoners (Taliban, for instance) who have been condemned for murders or facing trial for attacks on the security forces. A citizen had filed a petition in the SC making Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and former PML-N MNA Javed Paracha the respondents. The petitioner requested the SC to restrain the federal government from engaging in negotiation with any person claiming to be a citizen but defying the Constitution. Applicant questioned whether the federal or provincial government could negotiate with any group of convicts or under-trial prisoners for their release in violation of the Article 45. The petitioner said that the court should ask the interior ministry if it had moved any summary to the President about any specific prisoner or any group of prisoners in the Adiala Prison.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2013.