pakistan is a state carved out of British India by the machinations of the English rulers. Unfortunately, the nation has degenerated into chaos and Islamic militancy. The nation is itself faced by a local homegrown Islamic movement. In 2014 the radical Islamic militants attacked a school in Peshawar and massacred over 150 children.
Pakistan which had introduced a moratorium on death penalty in 2008 revoked it and death by hanging was restored. Initially, this was only for terror-related crimes, but within 2 months was extended to all crimes that merited a death penalty as per the PPC.
The Pakistan government has now gone on an execution spree and over 400 convicts have been executed by hanging in 2016. 94% of the persons hanged are for non-terrorist related crimes like murder.
The latest person to be awarded the death penalty is the alleged Indian agent Kulbhushan Yadav. Amnesty international has adversely commented on these hangings, where very little opportunity is given to an accused to defend himself.
Most executions
Pakistan is in the dubious company of China and Saudi Arabia which have carried out the maximum executions since 1989. China leads but numbers are not available as the execution data is kept secret. Yet thousands are executed every year, mostly by firing squads.
Saudi Arabia carries out execution as per the Sharia by beheading the convict. In Pakistan, the mode for hanging is death by the noose. This is in vogue since British days.
400 hanged to death in 2016
The judicial system in Pakistan is antiquated and many a time a convict does not have an opportunity to defend himself. Many courts award the death sentence as a routine, with the result that hundreds are on death row in Pakistan.
The Pakistan government enforces the death penalty rigidly and over 400 were hanged to death last year.Pakistan thus is fertile ground for Killing Fields.
The law in Pakistan appears inadequate. In a recent verdict, the Pak Supreme Court acquited 2 individuals of the charge of murder, after they had already been executed. Even the Pak prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged to death on dubious evidence by the man who had ousted him, general Zia ul Haq.
Last word
The state of Pakistan is riven by violence and crime. Despite the hangings, the terror acts and crimes have not come down but have shown a marked increase. Pakistan also has the dubious distinction of enforcing the punishment of death for blasphemy. This has been adversely commented upon by the USA.
