Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Industries Rana Ihsan Afzal has said that the government would be able to consider a pardon for PTI founder Imran Khan if he were to issue an apology for his crimes.

Imran, imprisoned since August 2023, is serving a sentence at the Adiala Jail in a £190 million corruption case and also faces pending trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act related to the protests of May 9, 2023.

In an interview on DawnNewsTV show ‘Doosra Rukh’ a day ago, Afzal said Imran’s sentence could be commuted if he were to issue a written apology to the president.

“If he writes some mercy petition or an apology to the head of state, then in my opinion, his sentence can definitely be forgiven,” Afzal said.

“The scope available in the law can be used. Besides this, the government does not have any other power to forgive his sentence,” he said, adding that as the allegations against Imran had been proven, a pardon could be considered based on an apology.

He emphasised that the sentencing in the wake of the May 9 riots did not mean that the “doors were shut” for dialogue.

“The most important thing in politics is that there is no enmity between political parties,” he said, stressing the importance of being able to sit down and have conversations about the national agenda.

However, he alleged that Imran was responsible for the current atmosphere of political polarisation that he termed as a “shortcoming in the current political space”.

“Other political parties are able to have conversations; they can sit together and talk about national issues,” Afzal said, adding that the PTI alone refused to engage in inter-party dialogue.

Meanwhile, PPP Secretary-General Nayyar Bukhari said the government had the authority to end Imran’s sentence on a constitutional basis.

“The state can bring cases and can also withdraw them. This authority lies with the state,” he said.

“Pakistan’s head of state has the authority to grant forgiveness. This is in the Constitution, right?” Bukhari said, adding that the state had the power to withdraw a case against anyone according to the Criminal Code.

He stressed, however, that this could only happen with dialogue, saying, “If this dialogue does not happen, then where will the relief come from?”

Yesterday, police personnel detained PTI protesters in Lahore and Karachi after party activists took to the streets to officially kick off a nationwide movement for the release of the ex-premier, who has been in jail for two years now.

However, the party leadership failed to hold any major gatherings in Rawalpindi and Islamabad as part of its campaign to secure Imran’s release, as police arrested dozens of party workers, including women, as they attempted to hold rallies at various locations in the capital.