Why has the PML-N changed its mind on executions?

Was it fear of economic shunning? Fear of TTP, who clearly threatened the government against executing its members?

News has come in that the PML-N government will continue the PPP-initiated moratorium on the death penalty. It has not been clarified what prompted this drastic change in party line and policy; soon after it took office, the government had claimed that it will start hanging prisoners — a decision in line with its policy on the issue.

In 2012, I worked on a special report for The Express Tribune on the unofficial moratorium on death penalty that the PPP government had in effect. Senior leader and now a cabinet member, Ahsan Iqbal, had this to say when asked what his party’s stand would be if the PPP introduced legislation on the matter:

“Deputy Secretary General PML-N Ahsan Iqbal said his party would strongly oppose if such a bill is introduced in parliament. ‘It is like giving a licence to criminals to kill people and get away with it,’ Iqbal said, adding that globally, the death penalty has proven to be a deterrent against heinous crimes.

“’It looks like there are some people within the government who fear their own misdeeds and have come up with a plan to convert the death penalty into life imprisonment,’ he said. Instead of such legislation, we need an effective justice system, he added.”

Perhaps, fearing this kind of response, the PPP never actually had a clearly spelt out policy on the issue, or brought it to parliament to be debated for legislative change. Instead, every three months, the president’s office would issue a notification via the interior ministry to respective home departments staying any upcoming executions. The home departments would then issue instructions to provincial prisons department chiefs to halt all sentences.

The PPP government never owned up officially to why it would do this instead of changing the law. But speaking off the record, leaders would say that they would never find support to amend the law because of the religious injunctions on capital punishment (it is very much legal under religion and Pakistani law has to be compliant with religious law).

As to what the PPP government had against capital punishment, well, because of its silence on the issue, there was speculation: the PPP was against capital punishment because Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged and it was an issue of principle, or the more believable one that the European Union (EU) would not grant preferred nation status (for trade) if Pakistan persisted with capital punishment because it has clear views against capital punishment. Also, Pakistan is signatory to international conventions that require it to do away with the death penalty, but of course no one bothers actually taking on the implementation.

Regardless, the turnabout in the party’s tone is definitely worth examining more. Was it fear of economic shunning? Fear of the TTP, who clearly threatened the government against executing its members? Did the security establishment insist that the government hold on to the decision for fear of a backlash, until after the winter, when there will be no need for talks? More importantly, we need to see if this decision leads to an open, inclusive dialogue on the death penalty. We can hope.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2013.

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