ISLAMABAD: Following a decision by the military’s courts of appeal to grant clemency to 19 convicts of May 9 protests on humanitarian grounds, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Thursday said that pardoning 19 out of 67 inmates is “not a major progress”.

Talking to journalists, he said that 48 out of 67 convicts had filed appeals against their sentences but only 19 were granted pardon, which is not a substantial number.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) announced that the sentences of as many as 19 convicts have been pardoned “purely on humanitarian grounds” after they appealed for mercy.

Gohar reiterated that the Imran Khan-founded party was against civilians’ trial in military courts and the Supreme Court of Pakistan had also given its opinion in this regard.

It is pertinent to mention that the military trials were initially halted after a top court’s ruling but Justice Aminuddin Khan-led constitutional bench of Supreme Court directed that the cases pending due to the earlier order be finalised and judgments in the cases of those accused found involved in these violent incidents be announced.

To a question related to the government-opposition talks, he said that his party’s committee would present its demands before the government in the next meeting.

He stressed the need for political parties to sit together and come out with a conclusion from the talks for the broader interest of the nation.

The government and the former ruling party kicked off the second round of crucial dialogue Thursday amid the latter’s January 31 deadline for the result-oriented talks.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025