Daily Times

There are posts and images making rounds on social media asking why isn’t Pakistan in the list of countries that voted no to the resolution “The question of the death penalty” – dubbed “pro-LGBT” by the international media – recently adopted by the United Nation (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC). Some are even suggesting that Pakistan in fact voted in favour of the resolution. Is it right? The short answer is no. This is fake news.

Pakistan would have been in the list of countries that opposed the resolution – it didn’t because it couldn’t. Pakistan is no longer a member of the UNHRC after it failed to garner votes for renewal of the membership in December 2015.

The resolution in question is A/HRC/36/L.6 and it sought from the countries that still have death penalty in place to ensure it is not “applied arbitrarily or in a discriminatory manner” against LGBT people and that it is not applied against persons with mental or intellectual disabilities and persons below 18 years of age at the time of the commission of the crime, as well as pregnant women. It also condemns the imposition of the death penalty for apostasy, blasphemy and adultery. The resolution was passed as 27 voted in favour, 13 against and 7 abstained.

Although Pakistan hasn’t executed anyone for gay sex, it does have Hudood Ordinance provisions through which the Sharia law penalties can be invoked. This is other than the Section 377 Pakistan inherited from the British rule, like many other countries once colonialised which states “Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than two years nor more than ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offense described in this section.”

Pakistan also has death penalty for death penalty in place for blasphemy. Although several have been sentenced to death for blasphemy till date, nobody has ever been executed by the state for the same. This often results into fatal vigilante justice and mob violence, a recent example of which is the Mashal Khan case where a university student was brutalised to death after being accused of blasphemy.

What shocked everyone is that the United States of America (USA) made it to the list of 13 countries that voted “no” alongside countries criticised for their human rights violations Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Another interesting aspect of the vote is that India also voted against the resolution. This is surprising because the resolution mentioned the ground on which India had challenged Pakistan in Indian spy on death row in Pakistan, Kulbhushan Jadhav case. It reads: “Calls upon States to comply with their obligations under article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and to inform foreign nationals of their right to contact the relevant consular post.”

India’s stand on the resolution has not only disappointed its LGBT citizens, it has also highlighted how India contradicted its own stand against death penalty on an international forum.