Bill abolishing death sentence on narcotics dealing passed

The National Assembly on Tuesday passed the Control of Narcotics Substance Amendment Bill 2022, abolishing the death penalty for those involved in the dealing of drugs and converted it into life imprisonment.

The lower house of parliament also approved the Foreign Investment (Promotion and Protection) Amendment Bill 2022.

The National Assembly, which met under the chairmanship of Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, was presented Control of Narcotics Substance Amendment Bill 2022 by State Minister for Law Shahadat Awan under the supplementary agenda.

The bill was passed by the lower house.

Also read: Senate panel defers narcotics control bill

In the bill, section 9 of clause 2 had been amended by legislation, converting the death sentence into life imprisonment.

Law and Justice Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar while deliberating on the bill maintained that death penalty under the Control of Narcotics Substance Act was used in an inappropriate manner, adding that it was a violation of basic human rights.

According to the law minister, there was a threat of death penalty to innocent people named in the narcotics cases. He noted that the said law did not rule out the arbitrary application of the death penalty.

On the other hand, the JUI-F opposed the abolition of the death penalty in the bill.

Opposing the move, MNA Aliya Kamran noted that a “different thinking was behind the current amendment”, adding that the purpose was to abolish death penalty from the books of statute for committing such a “heinous crime” and noted that the act was regrettable.

The lower house also passed the Foreign Investment (Promotion and Protection) Amendment Bill 2022.

Later, the session of the National Assembly was adjourned for an indefinite period.