Law minister terms public hanging of child abusers as against Islamic teachings, Constitution

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Law and Justice Barrister Dr Muhammad Farogh Naseem has opposed the public hanging of offenders convicted for sexually abusing and murdering children – for which a resolution was passed in the National Assembly yesterday with a majority of votes – as “contradictory with Islamic teachings and the Constitution.”

In his exclusive talk to Dunya News, Mr Naseem asserted that the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) in 1994 had termed the public hanging “unconstitutional” and declared it against Islamic law.

“The law ministry won’t enforce any law (in legal service to the state) that is contrary with Shariah or the Constitution of Pakistan,” he added.

Yesterday, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan presented a hand-written resolution in the parliament, which was passed by all lawmakers, expect of PPP’s, while referring to the “brutal killing of 8-year-old Iwaz Noor in Nowshera”. The session was presided over by Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri.

“Strongly condemning” the death, the signatories wrote: “This house (…) demands that to stop these shameful and brutal killings of children and give a strong deterrent effect, the killers and rapists should not only be given death penalty by hanging but they should be hanged publicly.”

Raja Pervez Ashraf, PPP leader and former prime minister, said: “Ramping up the severity of punishments does not result in a reduction in crime.”

“We cannot put public hanging into practice as it violates the laws of the United Nations,” he added, reminding members of the parliament that Pakistan is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Apart from PPP lawmakers, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry also condemned it and Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari maintained that the resolution “was not government-sponsored but an individual act”.

“This is just another grave act in line with brutal civilisation practices. Societies act in a balanced way. Barbarism is not the answer to crimes (…) this is another expression of extremism,” Fawad wrote on Twitter.

“Many of us oppose it — our MOHR (Ministry of Human Rights) strongly opposes this. Unfortunately I was in a meeting and wasn’t able to go to NA,” Mazari stated in a tweet.