Exercising one of the few powers of the presidency left untouched by the 18th Amendment, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday reduced the sentences of all prisoners — except those convicted of serious crimes like murder, terrorism and espionage — by a quarter in a bid to share the “euphoria” over return to the 1973 Constitution with those behind bars.
According to Mr. Zardari's spokesperson Farhatullah Babar, the President granted the special remission as per Article 45 of the Constitution and on the advice of the Prime Minister. Article 45 of the Constitution — unaffected by the 102 changes proposed in the 18th Amendment — states that “the President shall have power to grant pardon, reprieve and respite, and to remit, suspend or commute any sentence passed by any court, tribunal or other authority.”
Total remission has been given to women convicts who are over 60 years old and have undergone at least a third of their imprisonment.
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Similar remission has been granted to male convicts over 65.
“Let the prisoners also participate in celebrating this national achievement of democratising the Constitution and banishing from it the vestiges of dictatorship,” the President remarked while signing the summary for special remission.