‘Bus Kar Do’ concludes on World Day Against Death Penalty

Justice Project Pakistan stages final performance of its play ‘Intezar’ in Karachi

The Justice Project Pakistan, Azad Theatre and Highlight Arts wrapped up their week-long Bus Kar Do campaign with its final performance of Intezar, a play to highlight the plight of death penalties in Pakistan, in Karachi on Tuesday night.

“Traveling all the way from Lahore to Sahiwal, then on to Sukkur and Hyderabad, the Bus Kar Do bus reached Karachi on Tuesday, as part of our public advocacy efforts for World Day Against the Death Penalty, observed on Oct 10,” read a statement.

The JPP is a human rights organisation that provides pro bono legal representation to the most vulnerable Pakistani prisoners facing the harshest punishments. “Intezar is an interactive piece of theatre that is based on the lives of actual JPP clients. It takes an intimate look at their cases, the circumstances that led to their crimes and the unfair criminal justice system that led them to the gallows.”



Bus Kar Do seeks to highlight how Pakistan’s death penalty disproportionately and systematically targets its poorest and most vulnerable citizens. This is in line with this year’s global theme of ‘poverty and injustice’ that World Day Against the Death Penalty will follow. According to the human rights organisation, Pakistan has executed 480 prisoners since it lifted the moratorium on the death penalty in December 2014. That averages out to nearly 4 prisoners a week. Data on executions shows that the death penalty in Pakistan has failed to meet its goals.

By staging performances and conducting additional activities to engage local communities, the human rights organisation seeks to educate Pakistanis about the plight of the most vulnerable prisoners on death row, their journey through the criminal justice system and how many are denied proper legal representation and basic fair trial protections in the criminal justice system that is rife with corruption and beholden to power.