Up in arms: HRCP organises demo against capital punishment

HRCP legal advisor Mehboob Ahmed said the world had transitioned away from the 'barbaric practice'


Our Correspondent October 10, 2015
PHOTO: HRCP

LAHORE:


Dozens of citizens came together at a protest demonstration organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Saturday to mark the World Day Against the Death Penalty. 


Those present on the occasion held placards and banners inscribed with slogans regarding the plight of death-row convicts languishing in prisons. They urged the government to put an end to the practice of capital punishment.

HRCP legal advisor Mehboob Ahmed said the world had transitioned away from the “barbaric practice.” He said it had been abolished across progressive states as it violated fundamental rights. Ahmed said no one was entitled to take another’s life. “We are not against punishing the delinquent…but there are better ways of penalising them,” he said. Ahmed called on people to peruse world history to learn why capital punishment had been abolished. Replying to a question, he said the recent Supreme Court decision to uphold the death sentence for Mumtaz Qadri, the assassin of former governor Salmaan Taseer, had no bearing on the issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11th, 2015.

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