Sir, last week the Presidency of Pakistan has accepted the second mercy petition of death row convict Muhammad Iqbal who was a juvenile at the commission of an offence. For the time being his execution has been stayed until the final disposal of the mercy petition. His trial was concluded in 1999 and his appeal to Lahore High Court was dismissed in 2002. He has been languishing in jail for 18 years. The President of Pakistan has sent his second mercy petition to the Ministry of Interior for further action. It is not out of place to mention that his first mercy petition was dismissed by the President some months. This is the first that the President of Pakistan has accepted the second mercy petition sent by a third party who was neither his counsel nor his relative. His second mercy petition was sent by a citizen of Pakistan by virtue of Article 45 of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973. Article 45 of the Constitution doesn’t debar filing of a second mercy petition. The President of Pakistan has accepted the mercy petition on humanitarian grounds however; the first mercy petition was dismissed on merits by the office of President. His death warrants were issued this year 30th June and Iqbal was set to send to gallows. When Iqbal stood trial in 1999 his age was less than 18 years and this fact was determined through ossification test but then there was no legislation in Pakistan that debarred awarding of death sentence. However Pakistan was a party to UN Convention on Child Rights that directed its signatory countries not to award death sentence to juveniles. Juvenile Justice System 2000 was promulgated after the conclusion of Iqbal’s trial that prohibited awarding of death sentence to juveniles. In 2001 the then President of Pakistanissued a notification directing to the courts of Pakistan not to award death sentence to juveniles subject to determination of their age. The accepted of Iqbal’s second mercy petition has enhanced the image of Pakistan around the world in a positive manner. Pakistan had already executed two juveniles in 2014 and 2015 because of Pakistan had to save immense level of criticism. As we know that the death penalty is medieval times punishment that has no space in modern era because it undermines human dignity. This punishment must be abolished for all sorts of offences. Pakistan cannot afford to have this punishment in her criminal justice system. SARMAD ALI Lahore Published in Daily Times, August 14th 2017.