Pakistan

Dhaka executions: Asma Jahangir says govt reaction out of place

Pakistan, according to Asma, has become the third top executioner of the world

Our Correspondent November 23, 2015

ali ahsan mohammad mujahid left is the second most senior member of bangladesh 039 s largest islamist party jamaat e islami photo afp

Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid (left) is the second most senior member of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami. PHOTO: AFP

ISLAMABAD:

Top human rights lawyer Asma Jahangir on Monday raised questions over Islamabad’s reaction to the hanging of two opposition leaders in Bangladesh even as she condemned the authorities in Dhaka for carrying out the death sentences of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mojaheed.

“Why is the hanging of two Bangladeshis more important for the government than the execution of its own citizens?” asked the former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).

Jahangir, a founding member and ex-chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, was talking to media persons at the Supreme Court premises on Monday.

She deplored Dhaka’s decision to execute the two BNP leaders and said their execution would probably widen the divide in Bangladesh. “All human rights activists, including the HRCP, have expressed concern over the unfair trial of the BNP leaders,” she added.

Asma said the government of Pakistan should work towards redressing the issue of unfair trials in the country and also raise objection over the trial of Pakistanis facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia and other countries. Moreover, she said nobody is raising their voice against the death sentences handed down by military courts.

Pakistan, according to Asma, has become the third top executioner of the world following the lifting of a moratorium on the death penalty.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2015.

COMMENTS (7)

IKE | 8 years ago | Reply This woman is not only crazy but anti-Pakistan, enemy of Pakistan to be exact. She thinks that she has sole right and credentials to talk about human rights? Really? Government's reaction is not only correct but warranted.

Mrs HighBall | 9 years ago | Reply @nadeem: "Due process" in a country like Pakistan is a load of croc, especially with a backlog of unresolved cases going back decades. For a country faced with all manner of destabilizing issues, internal and external, fast-track high-noon justice served well done is the appropriate way to go.

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nadeem | 9 years ago | Reply @Roadkashehzada: What she means to say is that people are being hanged in Pakistan without due process, especially after establishment of military courts. Not following due process is your complaint against Bangladesh, right? Then look inward and you will find many more killed here at home by the government without following due process.

Roadkashehzada | 9 years ago | Reply Wht kind of logic is it? She believes that hanging of murderers in Pakistan and hanging of political opponents is same? I respect her as an intellectual but this comparison is totally non sense. Wht if tomorrow South Africa starts executing whites of apartheid era? Or Algeria ask to execute french generals? There is always reconciliation after every civil unrest which closes the chapter of atrocities to move forward.

Babloo | 9 years ago | Reply Pakistan, with a population of 1/6th of India, has executed more Pakisanis this year in 1st 9 months , than India has executed Indians since 1947 ( last 68 years ) !! Think about it !

wb | 9 years ago | Reply That's a solid round-house kick in the face of perpetual 180 million bigotry.

Hameed | 9 years ago | Reply > sma said the government of Pakistan should work towards redressing the issue of unfair trials in the country and also raise objection over the trial of Pakistanis facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia and other countries. Moreover, she said nobody is raising their voice against the death sentences handed down by military courts. We are not going to do that. We will only blame others, helps to cover up for our own kartoots.

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