Pakistan is set to resume the execution of death row prisoners a little over a month after it suspended the practice out of respect for the fasting month of Ramazan. A district and sessions judge in Lahore issued the first execution orders for two convicts, who are scheduled to be hanged at Kot Lakhpat Jail on July 28 and 29, respectively. Khyzer Hayat, who was arrested in 2001 and subsequently charged for killing a fellow police officer, is to be hanged on July 28. Another man, Saeed Muhammad, who was hauled by the police in 2003 over murder charges, is to be hanged on July 29. The executions had been briefly suspended after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif instructed authorities to respect “the sanctity of the holy month”, by observing a moratorium on capital punishment. Over 180 people have been hanged since the ban on death penalty was lifted following the deadly attack by the Taliban on a military school in Peshawar last year, prompting criticism from human rights groups. Since the resumption of capital punishment in the country, Punjab has taken the lead in the number of executions which stand at 153, followed by Sindh with15, and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan at 5 apiece. In addition, there were two executions in Mirpur Central Jail Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). According to details, more than 8,000 convicts, including juveniles, are currently on death row, waiting for their black warrants to be issued. Many of them have been in jail for the past two decades. Even then, the death penalty does not have a place in a modern and democratic society. But advocates of the death penalty here tend to rely on two lines of defence.The criminal justice system is not about merely the exceptions and the perceived rights of some individuals – it is about the totality of society and balancing multiple needs in the most sensible way possible. In Pakistan, where the criminal justice system routinely convicts roughly 10pc of the accused, there is extreme disparity in the kind of legal representation rich and poor accused can access. It is well known that the prison population is skewed towards the less well-off segments of society. Therefore, even when courts find beyond reasonable doubt that an accused is guilty of a crime that attracts the death penalty, there is a great deal of doubt about whether the legal representation of the accused put forward the best possible defence. Finally, there is the tragic reality that a wide range of crimes attract the death penalty in Pakistan – not just terrorism, murder and extreme sexual violence. Extending the death-penalty moratorium is necessary.
pk.shafaqna.com
Resuming death penalty: Would it reduce crime rate?
