newsweekpakistan: GOVERNMENT SAYS ALL CASES WILL BE CONSIDERED INDIVIDUALLY AS AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGES PAKISTAN TO RECONSIDER ENDING THE MORATORIUM.
Pakistan’s new government has ended a moratorium on executions, an official said Thursday as Amnesty International raised concerns about the “shocking and retrograde step.”
Under the previous government led by the Pakistan Peoples Party only one execution of a soldier convicted by court martial was carried out between 2008 and 2013. The president must approve all executions in Pakistan and a presidential order imposing a moratorium on the death penalty, issued in 2008, expired on June 30. The PPP’s Asif Ali Zardari is due to step down as president in August and the Parliament controlled by the PMLN will elect a new head of state.
“The new government has decided to deal with all cases of execution on merit,” said Interior Ministry spokesman Umer Hameed. “The government has given clear instructions to see all such cases on a case-by-case basis and there will be no general amnesty for the convicts waiting for execution,” he added.
London-based rights group Amnesty International on Wednesday called for an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty. “Any government green light to resume executions in Pakistan would be a shocking and retrograde step, putting thousands of people’s lives at risk,” said Polly Truscott, Amnesty’s deputy Asia Pacific director.
Categories: Asia
A retrograde step indeed!
One must reflect on history and the consequences of acts against innocents. This is especially in relation to our innocent Ahmadi brothers who have been imprisoned and on death row for charges of blasphemy, by simply calling ourselves Muslims!!
Let the authorities know that the blood, tears and prayers of the innocent will never go unanswered. Don’t take the delay in Divine punishments as condoning their acts but an opportunity to reflect and alter one’s ways for the better!! Pay heed oh those in power and seek true guidance and forgiveness and desist from acts of evil which has brought the respect and honour of our noble religion into disrepute. Remember, our religion is from Almighty Allah and He will Protect it as He has done in the past. Thus has been on numerous occasions. One has to simply read the Holy Quran and the Holy Bible to learn this. All we have to do is pray and pray earnestly for Pakistan and all those countries who are being misled. May Allah Ta’ala Grant Protection to our innocent brothers in prison and Enable the ignorant to learn the truth. Ameen.