ISLAMABAD, Nov 21: The government informed the National Assembly on Friday that it was considering a proposal to abolish death sentence.

In a written reply to a question by Humair Hayat Rokhri, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik said the matter was being processed by the law and justice division.

Asked when would the new law be enforced, the adviser said it would depend on amendments to relevant laws.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had on June 21 announced that his government planned to commute all pending death sentences into life imprisonment.

The announcement prompted the Supreme Court to ask the government to explain its position on the matter.

On July 2, the federal cabinet approved the prime minister’s initiative.

There are 62 countries in the world still maintaining death penalty in both law and practice, while 92 countries have abolished it. Ten have reserved its application only for war crimes. Thirty-three countries have allowed the capital punishment to fall into disuse for at least a decade.

An interior ministry official told Dawn that Pakistan could not sign extradition treaties with some countries because of the death sentence.

As a result, hundreds of Pakistanis have been languishing in jails in different countries.

During the first PPP government in 1970s, the life sentence was enhanced from 14 years to 25 under a plan to abolish capital punishment.

However, Gen Ziaul Haq’s military regime had kept both the enhanced life sentences and the death penalty intact.

Some influential people in the ruling PPP are against the abolition of death penalty and support the stance of some religious organisations on the issue.

Pakistan had on Dec 18, 2007, voted against a resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty at the UN General Assembly.