A petition was moved in the Lahore registry of the Supreme Court calling for abolition of the death penalty, arguing that it was a violation of the Constitution.
Barrister Zafarullah Khan of the Watan Party, on Monday, moved the petition stating that the rampant use of the death penalty for murder was unconstitutional.
He said that due to the prevailing corruption in the country many innocent lives would be put at risk. He stated that out of 213 countries of the world only 68 now had the death penalty. He stated that Pakistan was a constitutionally democratic country, where the majority believed in the Constitution.
He said that the right to life was a natural right embodied in Article 9 of the Constitution. He mentioned that former president and prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged in 1979 and that against his conviction a presidential reference had been moved.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th, 2011.
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In the UK, a Muslim was hanged over 50 years ago for killing someone. A couple of years back, the actual murderer confessed to the crime (on his death bed). There have been many such incidents, usually involving minorities like blacks in the U.S. (who can't afford to have good lawyers). For this reason alone, the death penalty should be abolished.
@sashayub
why they are being hanged (due to false cases e.g. blasphemy cases
Nobody in Pakistan have ever been hanged under Blasphemy laws! Why do you sadist secularists have to drag it in every conversation!
@Sad Panda: death penalty has serious implementation requirements (tazkiyah-e-shuhood) from witnesses of crimes...if these requirements are not met, death penalty is generally not awareded...it is not sufficient to say innocent get hanged...it is important to find out why they are being hanged (due to false cases e.g. blasphemy cases or land cases etc)
@SS. Even in US people are being freed after spending decades on death row due to the advancement in DNA, which is used to exonerate the not not guilty. If US can make mistakes and you are telling me Pakistan with abysmal prosecution, defense and crime collection techniques only convicts guilty? Bhutto was hanged when he only deserved jail term and one of the judges, who convicted him, wrote in his book that it was judicial murder. So if a PM is not safe, forget about common people.
@Sad Panda: No innocent person is hanged. The process of the law is such that only the truly guilty person gets death penalty.
I am with Mr Khan on this. So many innocent people gets hanged in this country and we still persist to have death penalty in our law books. We all know our police use 17th century investigation techniques and if you bribe them enough they will do anything you ask them to do. Abolish it before anymore innocent get hanged.
" He stated that Pakistan was a constitutionally democratic country, where the majority believed in the Constitution."
Why all or most of the Pakistanis do not believe in their own constitution? According to him, majority believes in constitution, what minority does not believe? Is that minority is the ruling elite otherwise called the army of Islamic Republic of Pakistan?
Death penalty should not be abolished. This will encourage people to commit heinous crimes. Several states in the US still have death penalty.