During the previous seven days at least four persons were executed by hanging in different cities of Pakistan despite the decision of the federal cabinet on July 2, 2008, to commute the death sentence into life imprisonment. That decision was made at a meeting under the presidency of Mr. Yousaf Raza Gillani, the Prime Minister. According to press reports, in the last week of July four persons were hanged in Punjab province. They had been on death row for many years and were delighted with the decision of the cabinet. The number of those executed included two persons who were hanged in Faisalabad and another one in Lahore, a fourth person had been on death row for 11 years. There are reports that four more persons have been informed of their impending execution by jail authorities, which apparently will take place in the month of August.
The decision of the cabinet remained vague as the government could not make the commutation of death sentence into law and did not have the approval from the National Assembly. The government was, generally, also very afraid of some powerful institutions such as, the President, the judiciary and Muslim fundamentalists, who have challenged the authority of the elected government to commute the death sentence as being contrary to Islamic principles. The Supreme Court of Pakistan has also taken sou motou action against the cabinet decision on two occasions to stop the government from taking the decision to commute the death penalty. The incumbent Supreme Court continues to work under the directions of President Musharraf, who appointed the members when he was still the chief of army staff in November 2007. The political expediency of the government to appease the Muslim fundamentalists has ruined all the hopes of the 7,380 persons who are on death row and who were jubilant on hearing the announcement of the cabinet.
Pakistan had recently signed the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) of the UN. The ICCPR in its article 6(1) states that every human being has the inherent right to life; therefore it is obligatory for the government to follow all the articles mentioned in the different mandates of UN, signed or ratified by the country. The recent execution demonstrates that the actual decision machinery does not lie with the elected government, but, in fact, elsewhere.
The Asian Human Rights Commission urges the government of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani to immediately ratify the decision of the cabinet, to commute death sentences in to life imprisonment, so as to make it a law. The necessary amendment should also be made to the constitution after approval by the assembly. The AHRC also urges the government to live up to its election promises and restore the judges, who were deposed in November, 2007 otherwise the judiciary set up during the state of emergency will prevented from working democratically.
