(The Asian Human Rights Commission reproduced below a petition from the condemned prisoners from Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, which we received from the NNI news agency of Pakistan).
To,
Mr Yousaf Raza Gillani, Prime Minister of Pakistan
Mr Bilawal Bhutto Zardari,Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party
Mr Asif Ali Zardari,Co Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (the ruling party)
RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH:
That we prisoners especially condemned prisoners congratulate you from the core of our hearts over the termination of the dictatorship due to the great struggle of your coalition Government. That Martyred (Shaheed) live forever according to our faith, it has been revealed in the Holy Quran by Almighty Allah that Shaheeds are alive, so it is our firm belief that the soul of Benazir Bhutto and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is very happy over the termination of the general’s dictatorship, that is abolishing of the Musharraf Government, it has been proved blood of both the great leaders have paid off and did not get wasted.
That we prisoners are reminding to the present Prime Minister that you have announced the gift of reprieving that is conversion of death sentence into life imprisonment which is still pending and we have our eyes on you to take further steps about it, because you have given us a great relief and hope for life again by announcing it on the floor of National Assembly on the birthday of Benazir Bhutto.
That as you remember in the first regime of Benazir Bhutto she also gave relief to the condemned prisoners by commotion and sentences, in order to convey hundreds of thousands of prayers to the soul of Benazir Bhutto please get the approval from the President in this regard. That there are so many innocent people in the jails of Pakistan and some of them are being hanged and in the light of your present decision about the death sentences no stay orders have been granted to those who are being hanged in the near future, an order must be issued till your final decision for reprievation. No doubt its better to give punishment to any innocent person than to hundreds of culprits might be forgiven. That our judicial system is known by everyone, the standard of judgments is also well known, so those who are opposing it why they do not think about the judicial system. There is no Islamic judicial system in our country. We are being crushed by the system like a turnip. That if our judicial system was plausible then Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto would never have been hanged. Its a true fact that his hanging was totally a miscarriage of justice. That those who are opposing the decision of the present Government, why did they not speak at the time of the commutation of England National Mirza Tahir and Indian Terrorist Kashmir Singh. Why the previous government provided them this huge relief and why they favoured the government in this regard at that time? That those who are opposing in the light of Holy Quran we suggest them that they should study once again with complete tafseer.
There are two types of convictions in Holy Quran that is Qasaas and Tazeer. Our present system of judiciary is based upon Tazeer and they should know government can change all convictions which are awarded according to Tazeer. That in murder cases most of the witnesses are self fabricated, they are not present at the place of occurrence, they have not seen the occurrence, so it is injustice to convict any person by the witness of such witnesses, they are not tazqiya-ul-shahood, they are not liable for evidence according to the Islamic point of view. We are of the view that why in the whole history of Pakistan any such witness (purgery) has not been convicted. That our jails consist of alot of innocent persons, some of them do not know about the demised person even then they have not seen that person whose blame of murder has been imposed upon them/him and they have been awarded capital punishment in that case which is totally injustice to them and which is miscarriage of justice. That our culture, country and our judicial system are apparent to everyone, they know that how are police and courts used by influential persons in order to get an innocent convicted. The data of convicts varies to the numbering of the deceased person, for example if there are ten thousand condemned prisoners then there should be four thousand deceased persons, so this data does not appeal to a man of common prudence. So in the light of above mentioned submissions, we request to Mr. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Asif Ali Zardari and our premiere Mr. Yousaf Raza Gillani, please once again look in to our matter and announce our relief which you had spoken on the floor of National Assembly that our government wants to commute death sentences and a summary about it is being sent to the President of Pakistan for approval. We also assure you and give our oath to you that we and our families will remain loyal to you and your party, and shall become JIALAAZ forever. We are now alive since then the Prime Minister has announced this relief. Our families are praying for you and Benazir Bhutto. We are hoping that before this Ramadan we shall listen to this great news, our eyes are towards you. Please accomplish your objectives as soon as possible, because time is short and we are on the Verge of Death.
From:
All Prisoners of Death Sentence,
Central Jail,
Adiala, Rawalpindi-Pakistan
The Asian Human Rights Commission has written earlier on the matter of the death sentence in Pakistan and our statements may be found at the following links: PAKISTAN: Executions continue despite decision of federal cabinet to commute sentences, at: http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2008statements/1637/, PAKISTAN: Supreme Court denies people the right to life, at: http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2008statements/1617/ and PAKISTAN: The AHRC welcomes commuting of death sentences to life imprisonment, at: http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2008statements/1589/
