Special powers of President challanged

PESHAWAR: A petition was moved to the Peshawar High Court (PHC) challenging the special powers of President of Pakistan to pardon convicts under Article 45 of the Constitution.

Senior lawyer Muhammad Khurshid Khan on Monday challenged the President of Pakistan special powers under Article 45 of the Constitution.In the petition, it was submitted that under Article 45 of the Constitution, the President of Pakistan has the power to pardon, change, or reduce the conviction awarded by the court, tribunal or any authority.

The petitioner pointed out that under the Islamic law of Diyyat and Qisas, the legal heirs of a deceased have the sole right to pardon or not the convicted person.The petitioner stated that former President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf had used these powers and changed the death sentence of British national Mirza Tahir Hussain to life imprisonment, as the court had awarded death sentence to him in the murder of Pakistani national and maintained by the Supreme Court.

The lawyer prayed the court to impose complete ban over the use of Article 45 of the Constitution. He also prayed before the court to suspend use of Article 45 of the Constitution till a final decision in the case and order that all the laws to be brought under Holy Quran and Sunnah.

Federation through secretary law and parliamentary affairs, secretary National Assembly, chairman, Council of Islamic Ideology and all provincial governments through chief secretaries were made parties to the petition.