Death penalty should end
LAST Thursday Pakistan reported its first execution in four years. Muhammad Hussain was hanged in Mianwali jail thus ending the tacit moratorium the government has observed since 2008 when Gen (retd) Musharraf’s rule ended.
The convict was a soldier of the Pakistan Army who was accused of killing his senior — a havaldar — with whom he was embroiled in a personal dispute. This came as a shock to human rights activists who have been campaigning against capital punishment. This execution took many aback because only a fortnight ago the president’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar had disclosed that the government was working on a bill to abolish capital punishment before the elections. The bill will convert the death penalty into life imprisonment.
In the last four years that Mr Asif Ali Zardari has been in office no prisoner had been executed in any jail in Pakistan until last week. Not that no death sentences were handed down — the death penalty continues to be recognised as a form of punishment in Pakistan’s judicial system. Nor were prisoners given clemency apart from a few.
But a tortuous procedure was adopted. An execution date for a prisoner on death row would be fixed, a clemency appeal made on his behalf and the president’s office would grant a stay order every three months, and thus prisoners — over 8,000 of them — escaped the noose.
It did mean that a prisoner had a sword perpetually hanging over his head. Zulfiqar Ali, a death-row prisoner in Kot Lakhpat, maintains a record. He has had 16 execution dates and 17 stay orders issued since 2008 when his review petition was turned down.
In 2007, the UN General Assembly had recommended that governments that had not abolished capital punishment should announce a moratorium on executions.
Seen against this backdrop, the hanging of Muhammad Hussain last week comes as a regressive step. The Punjab chief of prisons explained that this conviction was a military matter and the president did not intervene in such cases that fell under the army’s jurisdiction. But it was also stated that clemency had been turned down by the president as well as the chief of army staff.
If the appeal went to the president, it means he had a say in the matter. Why was the execution carried out in a civilian prison if it was a military issue? Apparently this was intended to demonstrate to the world who actually exercises power in Pakistan when the government and the military are at cross purposes.
It is time the government acted speedily on the issue of capital punishment that has been hanging fire for long. Last year Barrister Zafarullah had petitioned the Supreme Court to abolish the death sentence, given the corruption that is rife in the judicial system. The chances of innocent people being declared guilty and sentenced to death wrongly are very high.
The process of law requires that any person tried for a crime should have the right to full legal defence. Unfortunately, this is not the case in Pakistan. It has been clearly established again and again that police investigations are often flawed, and lawyers appointed by the state do not always perform their duties responsibly resulting in the miscarriage of justice.
Take Zulfiqar Ali’s case. According to him he was not provided competent and honest lawyers. The counsel appointed by the courts to argue his appeals didn’t meet him at all. As a result his request for a review was taken up by Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry who converted it into a review petition suo motu in 2006. But before any action could be taken the chief justice was out and Zulfiqar Ali’s petition was heard by the PCO judges.
The lawyer who was supposed to represent him never showed up at the review hearing in 2008. Such is the state of our judiciary that the judges reportedly caught hold of one of the lawyers present in court, who had no inkling of the case, and enlisted him as the defence counsel to fulfil a formality. Would that be considered a fair trial? And we do not know how many of those sentenced to death in Pakistan have suffered a similar fate.
All this comes at a time when the momentum towards abolition of the death penalty is growing. Protocol 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights stipulates that all parties will “take measures to abolish the death penalty within their jurisdiction”. Seventy-five states are parties to the protocol today.
The UN Assembly is also poised to adopt next month a resolution for the fourth time calling on member states to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.
The rationale as identified in the resolution is stated to be “that any miscarriage or failure of justice in the implementation of the death penalty is irreversible and irreparable” and that a moratorium “contributes to respect for human dignity and to the enhancement and progressive development of human rights”, and “there is no conclusive evidence of the deterrent value of the death penalty”. A large number of states have formally or informally observed a moratorium.
We may well ask, why should Pakistan be left behind?
www.zubeidamustafa.com
Any person, who takes away the life of another, intentionally and in cold blood, has no right to live. Till date I have failed to understand the logic that people give against death penalty. May be , one day such people will lose their own near and dear ones to murderers or terrorists and then let us see what their opinion is
Logic against death penalty is simple. Murderers are animals. And human beings are expected to treat even animals in a humane manner. When a dog bites you, you don’t bite him back. Do you?
When a dog bites u, you put him to ‘sleep’, so that there is no other victim. If we dont do that, the dog will probably bite ur infant, and he might not be able to live another day.
They don’t want to be executed themselves in a revolution.
u all philosophers are going to be mad including mam sahiba. janab if death penalty end criminals will cut your throats ,who are advocating their safe passage. Instead of overhauling the criminal procedure you people are advocating relief to the criminals. the whole country is mired in brutal killings. shame on all. Islam exerts death for death, you people are behind man made so called liberal system. strict punishments are required to create fear among criminals . thanks ankhen kholo dont copy west
This may suits well for other countries but not for country like Pakistan. If govt ll not hang then people ll do themselves as it is considered matter of ego in these matters.Islam has defined the rules for these matters but Unfortunately PAK having majority of Muslims trying to follow the so called UN which is biased against Muslim killings over the world.If death penalty is practised then crime could reduce.
The system of justice should be improved to make sure innocents are not executed but capital punishment can’t be abolished. Blood for Blood
An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind. ……. Mahatma Gandhi.
Good one. People who are hanged in prisons are criminals. I believe first you should stop supporting terrorists from killing civilians then you can place your support towards criminals… capital execution…
Death penality is needed but in rare of rare cases. It must not be abolished.
There are some humans who have absolutely no respect for life. If you read about crime and in some cases the acts of criminal shake your conscience. There had been cases where Humans have slaughtered kids and ate their body parts. Do you think they need to be kept alive on tax payers’s money for rest of his life.
These days there are multiple layers of justice sysytem in almost all countries before the death penality is finalised.
You seem to be referring to Surinder Koli (Nithari serial killer). Please understand that he must have been truly sick to have done those deeds. I seem him as a tortured soul who needs to be put to sleep in a humane manner (like lethal injection rather than by gruesome and traumatic method like hanging). Executing him should be seen as euthanesia rather than punishment or revenge on behalf of the victims’ families.
There are some humans who have absolutely no respect for life.
.
They are known as sociopaths. They feel nothing inside. They have no empathy even for their victims. They could even be defined as non human. These are not people who have simply made a mistake and can be rehabilitated.
It’s crazy not punish murderers with death penalty. At least in Pakistan, people have the confidence that after going through a couple of years in prison, they can come out and continue living freely.
Yesterday Kasab was hanged in India. Looking at the reactions from the victim’s family and by the general public; Death penalty has enough supporters and that is justified. What this author has to say about Kasab’s capital punishment? Do you want him to be fed through life? There are enough check and balances in a democratic judicial system. You have placed a week case to abolish death penalty. Do you want to trivialize the crime, by replacing it with life term, well fed and entertained in the jail? Death penalty should not be abolished but should be reswrved for certain crimes
It will be wrong to abolish it altogether .However it should be reserved for most heinous crimes.Needless to say that utmost efforts should be made to give fair and transparent trial to every accused
India and Pakistan still follow an outdated British legal system. Despite the knowledge that they may be awarded a death sentence, hardened criminals, motivated by greed or lust or some other thing would continue to commit horrible crimes. Hence the ‘death sentence’ has been a failure to prevent such crimes. But the awarding a life sentence to such criminals and reforming them via prolonged psychiatric treatment or re-education will not be welcomed by the victims relatives. We still want an ‘eye for an eye’. It is easier and politically expedient for ruling regimes in South Asia to execute hard core criminals than keeping them alive for around 20 years in a jail.
Adeel RIaz,
The Author while advancing arguments for abolishing of Capital punishment has not taken into account the culture and customs prevailing in the our rural community . In States like Pakistan, Capital Punishment serves as a Deterrent Punishment. If capital punishment is abolished in our country, it will lead to chaos and much deteriorating situation as compared to the prevalent position.
With or without death penalty, chaos continues in Pakistan. It has never been proven that the death penalty deters determined murderers. At best, it may deter marginal individuals.
death sentence will be converted to life imprsion, as all these talking against it but also knows about justification in pakistan.all prisiners are not innocent i agree but if one is hanged for the murder case in which he was not involved and punished awarded to him????? think about it and think that this can be also hapend to all of you as its hapend with my brother.
i requset to President of pakistan to convert this death sentence into life imprision because we are the effecties and waiting for releaf since 1996 (17 years), and no one is hearing us. so we will pray, who will convert death sentence into 25 years punisment.
Dear Ali I am writing my thesis for LL.M on Capital Punishment, if you don’t mind please send me details of your brother’s case.
Ateeq-ur-Rehman, ateeq.advocate@yahoo.com
Hardened criminals will celebrate their victory over the author by committing more crimes, heinous ones at that and then toast her. If the EU says so, it does not mean it can be so.
At what juncture of its existence is Pakistan today that you are demanding an end to capital punishment? For a paltry sum of money that can be easily be doubled and trebled by using our heads and foresight, meaning looking elsewhere for trade, revising our mercantile policies gearing up our industry for non-traditional items.
What does a person do with two rapists of a three-year-old girl who after assaulting and murdering her, threw her lifeless body into a gutter? What do you do with target killers who kill scores of people in pre-meditated cold blood? What do you do with a serial killer? Pardon him for life and later on give him an excuse to go on parole? What do you do to a person who has a hand and leg cut-off on opposite sides and still commits a crime? The persons mentioned, what good are they to society? Please correct me where I am wrong. Salams
The issue is a lot deeper N K, and using emotional rhetoric won’t contribute anything to an objective debate over this issue. The strongest argument against death penalty is that many people wrongly convicted of death-penalty crimes can lose their lives. And another important question is whether state has the right to take lives of people. One rationale for punishment is that it will deter the person from committing the crime, but death penalty doesn’t leave this option open because the criminal is already dead. An argument for death penalty, that it will deter the society from committing crimes, has no roots in reality, because countries with death penalty as part of their legal system have more cases of the very crimes the punishment is intended to do away with. And of course the ‘revenge’ argument for death penalty is a pathetic one, because civilized people don’t take revenge.
I would like to know what Madam Zubeida and Mr. Khurram Awan’s opinion on the matter would be if the murdered were their children. As per a law of nature, one truly understands pain when himself is in pain.
Well said Khurram. I agree with you absolutely.
You have an interesting debatable issue.Agreed that those who commit heinous crimes deserve death. Agreed that drug king pins deserve death.People that kill innocents deserve death.The “cloud” that comes in is when innocents are charged for a crime and there is enough “evidence” built up against them and they having no financial means to defend themselves is where doubts crop up.Justice is blind. It depends on evidence which in such cases can be “produced”.In a country where might and political power reigns the innocent may have no chance.I am not against capital punishment,but I am against a system that does not give the accused proper representation.No offence meant.Because your system,not your courts is suspect, especially the law keepers.
The structure of world stability and order hath been reared upon, and will continue to be sustained by, the twin pillars of reward and punishment….
Why should it end? Why do you have sympathies for criminals? Abolishing capital punishment would be against spirit of justice.
Because we are not like them.
I differ with the author. Death penalty is a credible deterrent. There will be a tendency of engaging in heinous crimes and getting away with it. Everything can’t be justified in the name of humanitarianism. More so in a world where crime in general has increased, both in number and in the gruesome ways it is perpetrated. Terrorism is on the rise. Let’s have one penalty which is befitting such crimes.
MURDER of an innocent must end first.You have no right to live after you have taken away the life of another person.People may act themselves to settle the score.
Death penalty must not be abolished in Pakistan because it will result into serious turmoils in the country. It is not advisable because Pakistan has low literacy rate and faces law and order situation, violence on the streets and if the offenders know that they can,t be hanged they will resort to massive killings.
How long till you lot will argue against imprisoning killers & rapists? Granted the system is weak & injustices are going to happen, but shouldn’t you instead be doing something to improve that? or at least raise your voice for that cause instead of saying no death penalty.
death penalty should not be abolished,if it abolished the criminals would more b encourage than before,in our country Pakistan where u all know rishwat aur siasat chalti hay,and the kohat incident has just passed where allot of criminals escaped,if death penalty abolished then the criminals who awarded life imprisonment would wait for such incidents to happen or try to escape from jails but if they not succeeded to escape then their partners waiting for them would make plan to take them out from jails n this will make the society more disturb and keep under fear…..thats what i think,so death penalty should not abolished…if it abolished
where the islamic ideolgy then??????????
There are enough check and balances in a democratic judicial system. You have placed a week case to abolish death penalty. Now, just today Kasab and other terrorists in the broad day light, massacred many. Do you want them to go free???. Do you want to trivialize the crime, by replacing it with life term, well fed and entertained in the jail? Death penalty should not be abolished but should be reswrved for certain crimes.
Today Kasab was hanged.
Kansan deserved it
justice late …but not denied AND KASAB HANGED TILL DEATH