Daily Times

In reaction to some parliamentarians’ opposition to harsh punishment for child rapists, Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan on Monday suggested holding a referendum on public executions.

Speaking on the floor of the lower house of Parliament, the minister termed the National Assembly’s resolution that called for publicly hanging those involved in cases of the sexual assault and murder of minors a correct decision.

“If the opposition has any objection to public executions, a referendum be held [on the issue],” he suggested, adding the plebiscite will determine whether the people support public hanging for those involved in heinous crimes or not.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MNA Syed Naved Qamar, slamming the resolution, said it was passed without forethought. He said the country is being run through presidential ordinances despite the presence of parliament.

The passage of a resolution in the National Assembly which seeks public hanging for child molesters has triggered a debate about whether the death penalty for those found involved in child abuse is the only solution to bring closure to such felonies in society. There are divergent opinions on the issue with even some ministers of the ruling PTI opposing the resolution.

During question hours, the house was informed that Pakistan Post will become the largest banking network of the country by December this year. Minister for Communications Murad Saeed said network of Pakistan Post has been linked with 15,000 kiosks of NADRA for bio-metric verification and it will be helpful in disbursing remittances, Ehsaas program payments and other essential services.

The Minister said in last week of this month, a home delivery service will be introduced by Pakistan Post and 125,000 franchise post offices will be set up in two years that will provide employment to a large number of people.

Murad Saeed said a loss of Rs52 billions of Pakistan Post has been brought down due to reforms taken by the incumbent government. He said these include introduction of live tracking of shipments, EMS plus survey for sending parcels to any destination in the world in 72 hours, entry into e-commerce sector, tapping the financial tech market of Rs200 billion market, using network of 12000 post offices in the country to deliver remittances at no charge, same day delivery in major cities of Pakistan, and improvement in UMS Service.

He said so far no private courier company is registered with Pakistan Post but a bill in this regard has been passed in Senate and presented in National Assembly to bring these organizations into mainstream.

Parliamentary Secretary Andleeb Abbas in response to a question said the OIC has been extremely active and vocal in its support for Pakistan regarding the Jammu and Kashmir cause.

She said the Kashmir issue was effectively highlighted and all members of the organizations stand with Pakistan’s stance in the wake of illegal and unilateral action of 5th August by India. The OIC has always been one of the foremost and premier multi-lateral forums and it has raised the plight of brave Kashmiri people.

Andleeb Abbas said in the humanitarian domain, Pakistan has been drawing attention to the gross human rights violations being perpetrated by Indian occupation forces in Occupied Kashmir.

Later the house was adjourned for today (Tuesday) at 4pm when the PPP legislator Abdul Qadir Patel pointed out lack of quorum.