Daily Times

The former President of the United States of America in 1999 granted clemency to 16 convicted terrorists despite hue and cry raised by FBI, police, the US Senate, and the House of Representatives. In 2001, on his last day in office, Clinton accepted mercy petitions of three women terrorists given long jail terms. Generally, US Presidents grant pardons all through their term; however, former President Bill Clinton granted pardon to one hundred and forty people on the very day of his as inauguration as President of the US. Former Presidents of US Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, during their tenures, as Presidents had pardoned 406 and 566 respectively.

In 2006 the Sri Lankan President, Maithripala Sirisena, granted pardon to a Tamil Tiger insurgent convicted who plotted a plan to kill him a decade ago. The President of Sri Lanka welcomed him onto the stage and even blessed him by touching him on his head. The opponents of the President accused him of undermining nationwide safety by releasing desperate and hardened convicted terrorists from the jail. Among mentioned instances were instances where desperate and hardened convicted persons had been pardoned by the Presidents of their countries. The question considering Pakistan arises is: how can the President of Pakistan decide the clemency plea of convicted persons after dismissal of their appeals in the Supreme Court?

The latest data released by the Ministry of Interior says that the President of Pakistan since 2014 had dismissed 513 mercy petitions. Needless to say that Pakistan lifted 8 year-long moratorium on the death sentence in 2014 in the wake of the brutal massacre in Peshawar, wherein 144 school children were murdered. The former President of Pakistan had to pardon Mirza Tahir Hussain-a British Pakistani — who was convicted of murdering a taxi driver in Rawalpindi in 1988. He was pardoned by the President and his clemency plea was drafted and sent to the President by the Prince Charles. The former of Prime Minister of Britain, Tony Blair, came on an official trip to Pakistan in 2006 wherein he discussed Mirza Tahir Hussain’s case.

There was another instance where the former President of Pakistan, Rafiq Tarar, pardoned an inmate who was allegedly accused of spying in Pakistan. He was pardoned by the President in 1998. The reason for quoting these instances are that ratio of acceptance of clemency plea in Pakistan is very low. Furthermore, no concrete, objective criteria is available for the President as to how he decides on a mercy petition. As mentioned above, the President had dismissed as many as 513 mercy petitions- the number is too high. If the US President could pardon terrorists and desperate and hardened convicts, why cannot the President of Pakistan pardon or give remission to those inmates who had come in conflict in law by accident or for the first time. Since the introduction of military courts, the cases involving terrorism-related issues were referred to them, and cases involving ordinary criminal offences remained in ordinary civilian criminal courts. The President of Pakistan, by virtue of Article 45 of the Constitution, remained the final and last forum where an inmate can submit for mercy after the dismissal of his appeal in the Supreme Court.

Since 2014, 472 people have been sent to the gallows and most of them were convicted of single murder or other ordinary criminal offences. It is available on record that the government, in consultation with other stakeholders, reinstated the death sentence despite immense international pressure from human rights organizations to execute terrorists and people convicted of heinous offences against humanity.

There are many inmates who have been on death row for years and the President, without having any objective criteria, had dismissed their mercy petitions. Most of them have poor and vulnerable background. The President of Pakistan is under a constitutional duty to exercise his power under Article 45 as soon as possible: keeping a mercy petition for years is a failure on his part to perform his constitutional duty effectively.

The President of Pakistan has a constitutional obligation to exercise his power under Article 45 as soon as possible: keeping a mercy petition for years is a failure on his part to perform his constitutional duty effectively

For instance, a case of a juvenile Muhammad Iqbal is foremost. His first mercy petition had been dismissed by the President; no idea on what grounds his petition was dismissed. No idea what criteria was adopted by the President while deciding his clemency plea. He has been languishing in jail since 1998. Another example could be of Kaniza Bibi who has been in jail since 1989, and she was found to be insane. The authorities were about to send her to gallows a year ago, but the intervention of international organisation save her from gallows. The President must grant pardon and remission to vulnerable and juveniles by exercising his power under Article 45.

The President and the authorities must perform their duties effectively. I further submit that the President ought to consider clemency pleas with open heart as the death sentence undermines human dignity. Pakistan can only be a peaceful country if we de-weaponise it and also we abolish the death sentence.

The writer is an attorney based in Lahore, and he can be reached at greenlaw123@hotmail.com

Published in Daily Times, September 11^th 2017.