The government is set to reform the controversial blood money laws that allow murderers to escape punishment if they are forgiven by their victim’s heirs, the prime minister’s special assistant on legal affairs said on Thursday. Critics contend that the law, which was passed in 1990, allows the wealthy and the powerful to walk scot-free from homicide convictions either by intimidating their victim’s loved ones, making them a financial offer that they cannot refuse, or both. The Qisas (retribution) and Diyat (blood money) law was famously invoked in the case of Raymond Allen Davis, a CIA contractor who murdered two men in Lahore in 2011 in broad daylight. The incident sparked a diplomatic furore which was only resolved when Davis was pardoned in return for a $2.4 million settlement with the men’s families. The 2012 killing of 20-year-old Karachi student Shahzeb Khan by two young men, who belonged to powerful political families, also drew national outrage after Shahzeb’s parents pardoned the killers — reportedly due to threats. But under the proposed reforms, a pardon can only be granted if a murderer has been convicted, according to Ashtar Ausaf Ali, the special assistant to the prime minister on legal affairs. And a convicted murderer will have to face a minimum of seven years in prison, even if they are pardoned by their victim’s relatives and avoid the death penalty, Ali said. The law will prescribe the punishment based on the crime, rather than monetary comfort to the victims.The government has been careful not to get into the crosshairs of conservative elements that would protest at the changing of a law created from Islamic injunctions, by saying that the basic law will not change.
It will be reformed in light of modern facts of increasing income disparities, where the wealth can avoid convictions due to their money.The Qisas (retribution) and Diyat (blood money) law most famously invoked in the case of Raymond Allen Davis, a CIA contractor who shot two men dead in Lahore in 2011. The diplomatic fiasco only ended when Davis was pardoned in return for Rs 250 million settlements with the men’s families. In 2012, a 20-year-old Karachi student, Shahzeb Khan, was killed by two young men from powerful political families. The victims parents pardoned the killers, causing a national uproar at the injustice of the system tilted towards those who have money. This is an important and very progressive development. Pakistan’s murder conviction rate dramatically declined from 29 percent in 1990 to just 12 percent in 2000 due to the enactment of the Qisas and Diyat law. The percentage of cases that were cancelled before they were brought to court meanwhile more than doubled in the same period as police took advantage of loopholes in the new law. Where there is an end to blood money, it is hoped that there will be an end to blood too. This is one less incentive to kill, and takes the security away from the criminal that the can pay himself out of a fix.
pk.shafaqna.com
