National Assembly adopts resolution for public hanging of child abuse convicts

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution calling for public hanging of the child abuse convicts with a majority vote amid opposition from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

The resolution was tabled in the lower house of the Parliament by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Muhammad Khan.

He said that the Prime Minister Imran Khan wants hanging punishment for the child abuse convicts.

“When we raised the issue of a public hanging in the National Assembly’s standing committee on Human Rights headed by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, it was opposed,” the parliamentary minister said adding that the government desires a new law aimed at the hanging of the convicts.

He further asked the opposition if it is ready to support the bill or not.

Another PTI lawmaker Imran Khattak also seconded the demand for the adopting the resolution calling for public hanging of child rape convicts.

Former Prime Minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Parliamentarian Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, however, opposed the move saying that the country has signed a United Nations (UN) Charter against public hangings and if it is adopted then the world would not accept it.

Earlier in the day, the National Assembly was briefed that the incidents of sexual harassment of children in the federal capital Islamabad, claiming that it had witnessed a decrease with 60 cases registered in 2019 as compared to 66 cases in the previous year-2018.

The report tabled in the lower house of the Parliament said that 80 people accused of committing the act were held during 2018 while 75 were nabbed in 2019.

The report, however, once again shed a light on dismal prosecution of the criminals, saying that only one of the accused was convicted during 2019 as other cases are ongoing.