Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) members Ahsan Bhoon and Azam Tarar appeared before the bench and stated that the bar wanted to become a party to the case. However, the matter has been postponed as the petitioner requested to file a fresh plea in the case. Earlier in July, a three-member judge bench led by the CJP, questioned whether life imprisonment meant imprisonment of a convict for his remaining biological life or anything shorter than that - and if so, whether different sentences of imprisonment for life passed in the same case or different cases were to run concurrently or consecutively. "The question has appeared to us to be a question of immense public importance affecting a larger number of cases in the country," said CJP Khosa. At present, the sentence of life imprisonment corresponds to a maximum imprisonment of 25 years, and a minimum of 15 years (per Rule 140 of the Pakistan Prison Rules 1978); after earning remissions as may be extended by the executive functionaries from time-to-time but subject to Section 401 CrPC, Rule 216 and Rule 218 of the Pakistan Prison Rules, 1978.
The jail manual also provides for at least a 14-year substantive period for those sentenced to life imprisonment. The section 57 of the Criminal Procedure Code stipulates that life imprisonment will be 25 years. The CJP had hinted at interpreting the ambiguity of the life sentence while hearing review appeal of a death row convict, Abdul Qayyum. During the hearing, Justice Khosa had remarked that the current interpretation of life imprisonment law was flawed. Referring to judicial practice in India, the Chief Justice remarked that life sentences in India are given after specifying the period of imprisonment.