Legislating against the death penalty: Can the PPP do away with capital punishment?

Government has suspended executions since it came into power but hesitates to convert death penalty to life terms.

ISLAMABAD:

There has been a de facto moratorium on executions since the Pakistan People’s Party returned to power in 2008. Every three months the presidency issues a letter through respective home departments, staying all executions. The home departments then issue instructions to provincial prisons department chiefs.

In 2008, former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, in a meeting with the Human Rights Watch, agreed to enforce a moratorium on executions and to commute to life imprisonment the sentences of those condemned to death. However, that is yet to happen.

In the past four years there has been expectation that the government would convert the death penalty into life imprisonment, but with the tenure almost over, there is still no sign of a bill. Reports say former prime minister Gilani had constituted a committee comprising interior minister, law minister, the attorney general and representatives of provincial governments to give input on legislation over the subject. Some meetings over the issue were also held during the tenure of former law minister Dr Babar Awan, but none have been conducted since then. The government is still to present anything concrete in parliament for debate.

The law ministry is working on a draft bill which has been pending for a while. Commenting on the bill, Secretary Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Justice Yasmin Abbasey, said, “[A proposed bill on the issue] has not been finalised yet and is still under consideration.”

A bill is first finalised by the law ministry, then sent to the relevant standing committee and then moved in one of the two houses of parliament after the committee’s approval.

Attorney General Irfan Qadir also remained tight-lipped over the proposed legislation. “I cannot comment on the bill at this juncture,” he said. “The decision on whether death penalty should be converted into life imprisonment is yet to be taken,” he added.

He did confirm though that a meeting was scheduled over the subject but it did not take place.

Similarly, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said the matter was pending and under consideration. “Consultation is in progress and I cannot confirm whether the bill would be introduced during the upcoming session of parliament,” he said.

President’s spokesperson Farhatullah Babar though denies this. “No such legislation is under consideration at the moment,’’ he said, adding that “legislation over the subject is not that simple. There are several offences which, under the Islamic law, are punishable by death and only the aggrieved party has the right to pardon,” he said referring to injunctions in Pakistani law that allow the victim’s family to pardon the murderer.

Justice Abbasey of the law ministry also pointed out a similar hurdle in any attempts at changing the law. “It is not that simple to prepare a new bill,” Justice Abbasey said, adding that there are existing laws on the issue, including Islamic laws.

“We cannot ignore Shariah law,” she added.

However, Kaira, when asked if the government delayed legislation because it feared strong resistance from religious parties over the proposal going against Shariah, said, “We do not have any such threat.”

Even though President Asif Ali Zardari has been delaying executions since 2008, he has not pardoned any prisoner on the death row.

This is not the first time the party has shown leniency towards condemned prisoners. Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, who served as the law minister during PPP’s last government from 1993 to 1996, says executions were suspended then as well. It is believed at the heart of PPP’s stand against the death penalty is the execution of its founder, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. However, Senator Babar points out that that is not the only reason PPP stays executions. The party believes that by staying the executions, it offers an opportunity to the parties in the case to have a rapprochement.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2012.