Scores of people held a protest outside the National Press Club Islamabad on Friday, demanding abolition of death penalty in Pakistan. The protest was organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on the ‘World Day against Death Penalty’. I wonder if any other Muslim country, where Islamic laws are in vogue, held such a demonstration. Our constitution spells out that no law in the country would be framed, which is repugnant to the Quran and Sunnah. The constitutional name of the country is Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Islam does not prohibit death penalty. However, Islam does provide escape by paying the blood money if the aggrieved party so desires.
Farzana Bari and her supporters must first study Islamic law and then come out on the roads to protest. The moratorium placed on capital punishment during Zardari’s regime was un-Islamic and perhaps it was enforced on a threat from TTP. Farzana Bari should have protested against faulty criminal justice system in the country, to carry the banner of Human Rights which are non-existent in the country. My personal opinion is that the rich and well connected get away for a crime and the poor go to the gallows.
MUHAMMAD AZHAR KHWAJA,
Lahore, October 11.