ISLAMABAD: A Senate Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday rejected suggestions that the constitution should be amended to pave the way for public hanging of those found involved in kidnapping and of children below the age of 14. The bill, proposed by Senator Rehman Malik, was discussed for the second time during a meeting of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice where representatives of all four provincial were present. “Going for such hangings in public might lead to an untoward law and order situation,” said an official from Punjab, stressing that the existing law was enough to punish the culprits. The Punjab Prisons Inspector General also opposed the suggestion, saying that hanging of convicts inside prison premises was fine. “Public hangings will have implications on society, especially young children,” he said. Sindh’s representative lamented that the world was heading towards ending death penalty or capital punishment, while Pakistan was considering public hangings. “The message from Pakistan for the rest of the world will not be very good if we proceed with public hangings,” he said, adding his concerns that there was a possibility that a mob could gather at the sight of such a hanging and engage in violent acts, posing a serious security threat. The matter has now been referred to the Ministry of Law and Justice for its reply in a week’s time. A final decision on the matter will likely be made during the next committee meeting. On January 22, the Senate Standing Committee on Interior had passed a resolution, condemning the recent incidents of children’s abduction, rape and murder in Punjab’s Kasur and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) Mardan districts. Chairing the meeting, Senator Rehman Malik moved the amendment in the section 364A of the PPC, where any person involved in kidnapping and abduction of a child below the age of 14 could be punished with death by hanging in public, or be awarded rigorous life imprisonment. Published in Daily Times, February 22nd 2018.