ISLAMABAD: On the occasion of the Independence Day of Pakistan, President Dr Arif Alvi on Saturday announced reduction in the sentences of prisoners under Article 45 of the Constitution.

Under the announcement, complete remission was granted to the elderly male prisoners who are 65 years of age or above and have undergone at least 15 years of jail term or more.

Similarly, complete remission was also extended to those female prisoners aged 60 years or more and who had spent 10 years or more in jail. The same would be applicable to those prisoners who have completed three-fourth of their substantive imprisonment terms.

Those jail inmates would also get benefits of complete remission who have completed 20 years of their substantive sentences. The jail sentences of general prisoners would be reduced by a fifth.

However, the special remission would not be extended to those prisoners who are on death row and convicted in espionage, gang rape, bank robbery, anti-state activities, zina, abduction and dacoity cases.