Penalties pardoned by President cant be restored: Law Ministry

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has returned the summary of the Ministry of Law on some discrepancies. The Ministry maintained in the summary that penalties pardoned by President Zardari under the Article 45 of the Constitution cannot be restored. The Ministry of Law asked the apex court to give a clear verdict on the aforementioned issue. According to the ministry, the Constitution empowers the President to pardon the punishments and therefore no punishment can be restored after the exercising of this power by the President. The ministry also requested the SC that this petition should be heard along with the NRO case on October 13, 2010. However, the Supreme Court returned the petition to the ministry on official grounds. The President, exercising his discretionary power, had pardoned his close aide and Federal Minister for Interior Rehman Malik whose three-year imprisonment in corruption cases was restored by the Lahore High Court.