The Sindh chapter of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) met in Karachi on Monday to commemorate the 20th World Day Against the Death Penalty.
The HRCP declared capital punishment a crime against humanity, saying that only two crimes warranted the death penalty at the time of the country’s independence, but now it is recommended for 27 different charges, the News reported.
The session was moderated by the HRCP Sindh Vice Chairperson, Qazi Khizar. The HRCP co-chairperson, Asad Iqbal Butt, the senior council member, Saeed Baloch, the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF), General Nasir Mansoor, and the Labour leader, Ayub Qureshi, also spoke at the session.
They agreed that the state was in charge of safeguarding the right to life. Pakistan had a suspension on the death sentence until 2015, but it was revived in the aftermath of the Army Public School Peshawar tragedy.
According to HRCP officials, Pakistan does not meet international criteria for awarding the death penalty. The judicial system, gaps in police investigations, bribery and corruption, the use of the religious card, political divisions, and a variety of other issues all had a role in the unfairly awarded death penalties.
They further acknowledged that the use of inhumane punishments by the police compelled the convicts to prefer death sometimes. Additionally, there are not many statistics regarding the death penalty available in the country, making checks and balances harder.
According to the data shared by HRCP officials, 578 individuals were sentenced to death in 2019, including 17 people on death row in blasphemy cases. The year after that, 177 people were sentenced to death by different courts. In total, 125 people were sentenced to death in 2021, including three women.
In all, 1,143 people were on death row in various prisons around the country. The speakers also noted a number of situations in which convicted parties were found innocent after the death penalty was implemented.
The HRCP urged the authorities to ban the death penalty, make investigations more transparent, and improve the environment in prisons for those sentenced to death in blasphemy cases. The state should adopt the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Second Protocol, the meeting agreed.
