Compromises on the rise amid rare execution

It has been more than seven years since the last death row convict was hanged in the Central Jail Rawalpindi also known as Adiala Jail. Similarly, no convict has been hanged in the three other district jails of the Rawalpindi Division, including Attock, Jhelum and Chakwal, for the last nine years.

The gallows of these four jails have been closed for all this time while executioners are also not available in the Adiala Jail, which houses prisoners from both the twin districts of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

At present, 279 death row convicts, including seven women, from both districts are lodged in Adiala Jail. The appeals of 210 death row prisoners are pending before the Lahore High Court (LHC)’s Rawalpindi Bench, while 168 appeals of the convicts of the Rawalpindi Division are pending before the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP). Moreover, the mercy appeals of 12 criminals are awaiting a decision from President Dr Arif Alvi.

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The last person executed in the Adiala Jail on February 29, 2016, was Mumtaz Qadri, who was convicted in the murder case of former Punjab Governor Salman Taseer.

According to court records, 60 to 70 per cent of the appeals of criminals sentenced to death by the sessions courts are granted in the High Court through which the death sentences are commuted to life imprisonment or the accused are acquitted. Whereas in the SCP, the death sentences are annulled in the same ratio. The final mercy appeals of the convicts, whose death sentence appeals were rejected by the SCP, are awaiting the decision of the president.

According to the laws in Pakistan, the death penalty is given for the crimes of murder, terrorism, blasphemy and drug trafficking. The execution sentences of the sessions courts in drug cases are in almost all cases commuted by the High Court to life imprisonment or 10 to 15 years imprisonment and heavy fines. In cases of murder, the legal heirs in 50 per cent of the cases that go to the SCP agree to forgive the convicts against blood money.

When contacted, the sessions court sources confirmed that the execution cannot be performed until the mercy appeal to the President of Pakistan is rejected. In this case, the death penalty file comes before the concerned District and Sessions Judge who fixes the date of execution after consulting the jail superintendent and the police chief.

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It is the prerogative of the District and Sessions Judge to fix the date of execution, but he informs the jail and the police superintendents of arrangements. Black warrants are issued for the execution of the sentence, in the light of which the superintendent of the jail arranges a last meeting with the convict’s family the night before the execution and notes the convict’s will. He also manages the executioner and gets the execution performed as per the jail manual.

Jail sources told The Express Tribune that no execution has taken place in Adiala Jail for a long time. Jail authorities say that if they receive a black warrant from the Sessions Judge, they are bound to execute it.

Due to the non-implementation of death sentences for a long time, there has been an increase in the ratio of compromise between the opposing parties. With this measure, the deceased party not only gets a reasonable blood money but the enmity between the groups also ends.

In Rawalpindi district, so far this year, the parties in 68 cases of murder have entered into a compromise even before the verdicts were announced. Rubina Bibi widow of Miskeen Khan, one of the legal heirs in the famous murder case of City police station, said the women and men of the accused party asked for forgiveness in a local Jirga in the presence of the area residents and offered to leave the area as well.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2023.