Daily Times

Pakistan bids to execute a wheelchair-bound convict Abdul Basit, who is disabled and languishing in jail. Abdul Basit was awarded the death sentence in 2009 for killing his girlfriend’s uncle. After his conviction in 2009, he had suffered tubercular meningitis, leaving his lower body paralysed; since then he is wheelchair-bound. A medical board constituted in order to determine his medical condition opined that such disabled people never recovered from the after-effects of tubercular meningitis and remained on bed rest for their whole lives. A ‘black warrant’ was issued on July 28, 2015 by the lower judiciary for his execution. The petitioner’s mother a couple of weeks ago challenged the black warrant in the Lahore High Court through a writ petition seeking an order for staying his execution on the humanitarian ground that being a paraplegic convict, he did not deserve to be hanged. The petition was placed before the Honourable Justice Anwar Ul Haq, who observed that the petitioner should wait for the decision of the jail superintendent or doctor, as they had the jurisdiction to decide the fitness of a prisoner for execution.
It is the opinion of this writer that if Abdul Basit, who is 43 years old, will be executed, the jail authorities would be in sheer violation of international and Pakistani laws. I further contend that Pakistan’s law has provisions dealing with mercy and/or commuting a death sentence into life imprisonment. It is a case where the court may have enunciated an order placing reliance upon international conventions on human rights and treaties that Pakistan has ratified, while ignoring some cruel provisions of Pakistan’s law. I know it is a difficult job to sit on the chair of a judge, determine the real facts of the case and then apply the law on the facts. Even so, I think judges should always incline towards construing the criminal law provisions in line with the conventions on human rights. In this manner, judges through their judgements introduce and inject human rights into the violent and cruel society of Pakistan. Furthermore, this way may help to mutely kill the hardships that criminal law brings.
The execution of a wheelchair-bound convict would be the first ever in Pakistan. An identical incident had once taken place in Virginia in 1993, where a wheelchair-bound convict was executed. Other than that, no other example is available. In the wake of the Peshawar attack last year on the Army Public School, the government, in consultation with all stakeholders including the Army, decided to lift the moratorium upon executions since 2008. Despite UN as well as European Union pressure, the government still persists in executing prisoners. To date about 200 prisoners have been executed and the majority of these were convicted of ordinary capital punishment offences such as murder, drugs smuggling, rape, etc. If I am not mistaken, not a single prisoner has been executed who was convicted of terrorism. The stated intent of the government was to bring to the gallows those prisoners who had been convicted of terrorism. Instead, vulnerable prisoners, including those who were forced into confession of an offence, have been hanged since the lifting of the moratorium. Furthermore, the government last year lifted the moratorium in the hope that the crime rate in Pakistan, especially terrorism-related activities, will decrease. Some of us then believed that only the condemned terrorists will be hanged. To date, it has been the other way around.
It is a proven fact around the world that execution is barbaric and cruel and therefore, in the modern world, it has no space in the criminal justice system. Most countries of Europe years ago abolished it for all crimes. The leading nation of Europe, France, had executed a number of people during the French Revolution in a barbaric and cruel manner. The same was done by Great Britain; it had executed too many people during the 17th century civil war and kept doing that until 1964. If I am not mistaken, Belarus is the only country in Europe that still retains capital punishment in its criminal justice system. However, slowly and gradually the international community is exerting pressure upon Belarus for abolishing capital punishment. I take the case for the abolition of capital punishment a step forward by placing reliance upon human dignity. All humans have one thing in common, which is dignity, and I am sure it beats in every heart. I therefore contend that capital punishment without a shadow of doubt violates human dignity. I cement my argument in opposition to capital punishment further that it is irreversible. If a convict is executed who was forced into confession of a crime by the police or he had not committed a crime but remained in the hands of the police maliciously, the cliché that capital punishment caters to reducing the rate of crime in society is outdated, rather doesn’t exist at all. The advanced modern capitalist countries of Europe have abolished capital punishment years ago as I have already mentioned earlier and they have introduced non-penal social engineering into their criminal justice systems. I know this non-penal social engineering scheme may lack public support in Pakistan or the rest of the subcontinent’s countries. I even then press this argument of non-penal social engineering in Pakistan, as I believe that capital punishment dates back to medieval times when kings were the rulers and the judicial system was not so developed.
In culmination, I submit that the execution of Abdul Basit should be stayed on humanitarian grounds. I further contend that the government immediately without any delay restore the moratorium on capital punishment in order to make this society humane and a non-penal one. It is also not out of place to mention once again that capital punishment is irreversible; once executed, it is all over. And this is a dangerous ploy in Pakistan where people with deep pockets can easily manipulate the police investigation and twist around the judicial system. I finally conclude that it is a cruel and barbaric punishment. which should be abolished in Pakistan for all crimes.

The writer is an advocate of the
High Court. He can be contacted at greenlaw123@hotmail.com