Chowrangi

The death penalty was abolished in the European Union and other countries after it was realized that there was a danger of innocent men being executed. It had also been observed that the death penalty had no deterrent effect. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, a couple of hundred men are executed every year, yet drug smuggling continues unabated. Many poor Pakistanis are also victims of the dreaded punishment. In the U.K. a man was convicted for killing more than twenty people, yet he was not hanged, but sentenced to serve sixty years in prison. Recently, a UK. national, Kenny Richey, was released after spending twenty one years in jail, because there were doubts about his guilt. But once he had been only an hour away from death by lethal injection. He is now a bitter man, as an innocent man should be. So this should make us think of the hundreds of men who are killed every year, despite being innocent.

In Pakistan, it is very common to get a case of murder registered against a rival, particularly if the complainant is powerful and has friends in high places. I know most Pakistanis will not agree, but why not do away with the death penalty? The feudals, of course, will never agree, and neither will the religious lobby, who never hesitate to register cases of blasphemy whenever their interests are threatened. But I do think the time has come for our intellectuals to consider this issue seriously, and urge the government to abolish capital punishment.

Other posts by Shakir Lakhani

• Shahbaz Sharif should ask Indian Sikh soldiers to spare Punjab! - March 17th, 2010
• Shahnawaz Bhutto was not murdered by General Zia - March 13th, 2010
• Bomb blast in Lahore - March 11th, 2010
• M. F. Hussain no longer an Indian! - February 27th, 2010
• Why not legalize corruption in Pakistan? - February 25th, 2010
• Changing names to improve health - February 15th, 2010
• Over 1700 Christians converted to Hinduism in India! - February 3rd, 2010
• Sacrificing black goats to save your skin! - January 31st, 2010
• Will Pakistan and India always be rivals? - January 26th, 2010
• Cheeta-Meharats: Indians that are Hindus as well as Muslims! - January 23rd, 2010