ISLAMAB AD: A Senate committee on Friday opposed public executions for capital offences and decided not to support any such amendments to law and regulations.

The Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights held a meeting with Senator Walid Iqbal in the chair at Parliament House.

After detailed deliberation, the committee by a majority of the members present opposed any statutory amendments that call for public execution for capital offences.

In this regard, the committee resolved by a majority vote that in view of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution as interpreted by the Superior Court and all applicable laws, any statutory amendments calling for public executions involving capital offences be opposed, and also appealed to the upper house of parliament to reject any such proposed amendments should they come up on its legislative agenda.

Members urge Senate to reject any such proposed amendments that come up on its legislative agenda

Senators Dr Mehr Taj Roghani and Dr Humayun Mohmand expressed their disagreement by asserting that the committee had decided upon the matter in haste without accessing any proper research and information on the possible deterrent effects of public executions.

The committee received briefings on public executions from the secretary, Ministry of Human Rights, and the secretary National Commission for Human Rights. The briefings highlighted a judgement passed by Supreme Court in 1994 that had declared public executions to be contrary to the inviolability of human dignity as guaranteed by the Constitution, a position that was followed by the Lahore High Court in 2018 while disallowing the public execution of the rapist and murderer convicted in the infamous Zainab case.

The committee was also apprised of a decision of the Federal Shariat Court where the matter of upholding human dignity was endorsed in the light of Quranic teachings.

The briefings additionally underscored the various international conventions that Pakistan had ratified and made part of domestic law, most notably the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibit public executions as cruel and inhuman, and also emphasised that according to global research and empirical evidence, public executions serve to brutalise society as opposed to having a deterrent effect.

It was pointed out that in the year immediately following the execution of Zainab’s murderer there was a 33pc increase in rape cases.

The secretary Ministry of Human Rights also briefed the committee on various aspects of the “Bangkok Rules”, stressing on gender sensitivities involved as far as under-trial and convicted prisoners are concerned, but explained that the rules are non-binding in nature due the manner and circumstances in which they were issued.

The committee deferred discussion on the state of implementation of these rules in Pakistan to a subsequent meeting where chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women would be in attendance, and also directed representatives of the commission to collect and bring with them some additional data and information on the subject from all provinces.

In a subsequent unanimous decision, the committee condemned the ill-treatment meted out to Baloch protesters in the federal capital in clear violation of their human rights.

The secretary National Commission on Human Rights urged the committee to visit the National Press Club where the protesters led by Dr Maharang Baloch have staged a sit-in.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2023