The controversial resolution also brought one of PIT-government’s opposition to oppose it
DESPARDES — Members of the National Assembly on Friday by majority vote passed a resolution calling for the public hanging of convicts found guilty of murdering and sexually abusing children — it drew immediate criticism from the government and Pakistan Peoples Party including top trend of hashtag #HangRapistsPublicly on Twitter.
Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari took to the micro blogging website and clarified that the resolution passed was not a ‘govt-sponsored resolution but an individual act’, adding that she also opposes the decision. “Our MOHR (Ministry of Human Rights) strongly opposes this”.
Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry also strongly condemned the resolution on social media.
“This is just another grave act in line with brutal civilisation practices, societies act in a balanced way barbarianism is not answer to crimes…… this is another expression of extremism,” he wrote.
The controversial resolution also brought one of PTI-government’s opposition to oppose it.
PPP leader and former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf spoke against the resolution and said the intensity of the punishment will not result in the reduction of such crimes.
He highlighted that public hangings violate the laws of the United Nations (UN) as Pakistan is a signatory of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Earlier this week, the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) recommended public execution for child abusers to a special parliamentary committee.
The recommendation is part of a report submitted on Tuesday by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Advocate General (AG) Shumail Butt to the parliamentary committee.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, the AG said they have recommended the proposed punishment in light of the law and the Constitution.
Meanwhile, the 13-member special parliamentary committee against child abuse held a meeting on Tuesday. It observed that the federal government will be approached to relax its laws about public hangings. The committee further said if no relaxation is provided, then they will seek a move whereby a video recording showing child abuse convicts being hanged is shared on the media so that no one can dare to commit such dreadful crimes.
