KARACHI/HYDERABAD: Demonstrations were staged in Karachi and Hyderabad on Friday under the banner of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, demanding legislation to abolish capital punishment.

Rights activists from various civil society organisations participating in the demonstrations were informed that in 1947 capital punishment could be awarded on murder and mutiny charges only, but at present there were 27 offences for which the death penalty could be awarded.

Speaking at the demonstration organised at the Karachi Press Club by the HRCP and the Joint Action Committee, JAC’s Mir Zulfiqar and HRCP’s Akhtar Baloch said that many developed countries had already abolished this punishment.

They said that capital punishment should also be abolished in Pakistan.

The demonstrators were holding banners inscribed with their demand. They also raised slogans in support of their demands.

In Hyderabad, rights activists marched from Radio Pakistan to the press club to mark the international day of abolition of capital punishment.

Addressing the marchers, HRCP’s Dr Ashuthama and civil society representatives Lala Hassan Pathan and Fareeda Channa said that civilized nations were examining the law of capital punishment. They said it was in 1863 when Venezuela abolished capital punishment for the first time in the world.

Referring to a recent report, they said that death sentence had been abolished in 137 countries, while 60 other countries had the capital punishment law for murder cases only. They said it was a cause for concern that there were 27 different charges in which the death penalty could be awarded.

However, they said, it was a positive sign that capital punishment was not awarded in the country during the past six years. They demanded that lawmakers move a bill in the national assembly to abolish law of capital punishment.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2014