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Summary The CJ says punishing or pardoning of accused was the prerogative of courts.
A three-member bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC), headed by Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry on Thursday reserved the judgement on a petition, challenging the pardoning of Interior Minister Rehman Malik by President Asif Ali Zardari.The chief justice said that punishing or pardoning of the accused was the prerogative of courts and it was not the president’s job.The court was hearing a petition by Barrister Farooq Hassan, pleading that pardoning of Interior Minister Rehman Malik by the president was unconstitutional as he (Malik) could have knocked the door of the Supreme Court against the punishment. He submitted that this act of the president should be declared illegal.During the hearing, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Nasim Kashmiri submitted that the president could pardon at any convict at any stage. Kashmiri referred two previous cases in which the Supreme Court had upheld the pardoning of the convict by the president.Hearing the arguments, the court reserved the judgement.
