The Senate’s Standing Committee on Human Rights, with a majority of members present, opposed any statutory amendments calling for public execution for capital offences. The committee met with Senator Walid Iqbal at the Parliament House, where they resolved, by a majority vote, to oppose any statutory amendments calling for public executions for capital offences. They also appealed to the House to reject any proposed amendments related to public executions.
During the meeting, Senators Dr Mehr Taj Roghani and Dr Humayun Mohmand expressed their disagreement, stating that the committee had decided hastily without proper research and information on the deterrent effects of public executions.
The committee received detailed briefings on public executions from the Secretary, Ministry of Human Rights, and the Secretary, National Commission for Human Rights. The briefings highlighted judgments by the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Lahore High Court, which declared public executions contrary to the inviolability of human dignity as guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan.
Additionally, the briefings emphasized international conventions that Pakistan had ratified, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibit public executions as cruel and inhuman. They pointed out that global research and empirical evidence show that public executions brutalize society rather than deter crime.
The committee also discussed the implementation of the “Bangkok Rules” and decided to defer further discussion to a subsequent meeting where the Chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women would be in attendance. The meeting was attended by several Senators and senior officials from attached departments.