ISLAMABAD, Oct 10: Speakers at a seminar organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Thursday opposed the generalised application of the death penalty and said peace was the only way to abolish capital punishment.

The seminar was held in connection with the World Day against the Death Penalty.

It maintained that there was a need to identify and confine the number of offences for which capital punishment could be imposed, and to progressively work for the abolishment of the death penalty.

Renowned Pakistani and international speakers discussed that discourse was a practical solution to understanding the mindsets that lead to human rights violations.

Improving the means of dialogue and enhancement of the criminal justice system would be a gradual shift which may contribute to the eradication of injustice, they said.

In his keynote address, Roger Hood, Professor Emeritus of Criminology at the University of Oxford, emphasised on the ‘new dynamic’ that had been at work for the past 24 years.

He said the debate about capital punishment had gone past the notion that each country had the supreme right to maintain death penalty as an oppressive means of its domestic criminal justice system.

Countries should recognise that maintaining the death penalty defies the universally accepted human rights embodied in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as inferred by the International Human Rights institutions, he added.

Hood further suggested that, “Human beings have the right to be able to redeem themselves and that a state has no right to take the life of a captive citizen.”

He urged governments all over the world to conform to the standards and objectives of the ICCPR by restricting the scope of the death penalty and ensuring a fair trial.

He further said the lack of criminology institutes in Pakistan hindered any progressive research that may be carried out to improve the justice system.

Furthermore, legal practitioners also discussed the flaws in the law itself and of the drawbacks with the administration of justice.

They also discussed cultural prejudices and how capital punishment in Pakistan was discriminatory.

Maryam Haq Advocate of the Justice Project Pakistan said prisoners condemned to the death row were confined to a prison cell often measuring 8ft by 12ft, and suffered from severe mental trauma and physical deterioration.

Their condition was apparently caused by the callous conditions experienced on death row and the anxiety of awaiting one’s execution.

Anees Jillani Advocate made the case for juveniles but resisted complete eradication of the death penalty.

Similarly, Aslam Khaki Advocate presented the Islamic point of view on the death penalty and agreed that capital punishment for several offences could be abolished.

Arthur Wilson, Executive Director of Prison Fellowship Pakistan, stressed upon the need for “justice for reconciliation instead of retribution.”

The HRCP co-chairperson, Kamran Arif, presided over the event and acknowledged the government’s continuation of the moratorium on executions in Pakistan as a commendable step towards a strengthened justice system.

Arif, however, called for a complete review of the death penalty regime since a drastically high number of offences carried death penalty.

He noted that courts continued to award death penalty even when systematic studies in several countries suggested that the punishment did not contribute to reduction in crime rates.

The HRCP Secretary General I.A. Rehman explained the commission’s commitment to the “right to life for all”.

He suggested an early abolition of capital punishment in Pakistan, the welfare of detainees without infliction of any suffering and the government’s explanation to the people for its persistence with the moratorium.

The demands also included facilitation of an open discourse to garner public support for the HRCP stance on capital punishment.

In addition, it should be highlighted that only a couple of the 27 death penalty offences in the country are consented by Islam.

A policy should be introduced to ensure access to official data on persons condemned to the death penalty.