ISLAMABAD, July 4: The Supreme Court on Friday took suo motu notice of a news report about government plans to commute death sentence of around 7,000 convicts into life imprisonment and asked the government to explain its position.

Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar asked Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum and ministries of interior and law to submit written replies in a week explaining the government’s position on death-row prisoners.

A senior court official told Dawn that the matter would be taken up by the apex court on July 14.

This is the second time that the issue has been taken by the apex court. On April 28, the chief justice had asked the attorney general to find out if the government had plans to bring a legislation to commute death sentence into life term.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had on June 21 announced that his government would recommend to the president to commute the death sentence of thousands of prisoners into life imprisonment as part of a birthday tribute to slain PPP leader Benazir Bhutto. On July 2, the cabinet approved the PM’s initiative.

According to reports, 62 countries in the world still maintain death penalty in both law and practice while 92 countries have abolished it, whereas 10 countries retain it, but only for crimes committed in exceptional circumstances, like crimes committed during war.

Though 33 countries maintain laws permitting death penalty for ordinary crimes, they have allowed the maximum punishment to fall into disuse for a decade.

On December 18, 2007, Pakistan voted against the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly.

In 1970s during the first government of the PPP under the premiership of late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the life sentence was enhanced to 25 years from 14 years with an idea that the capital punishment would be abolished.

However, the Zia regime kept both the sentences, 25-year life term and death penalty, intact.