Sarmad Ali

A wheelchair-bound convict, Abdul Basit, aged 43 years, is set to be hanged in Pakistan despite appeals from human rights groups both in Pakistan and abroad. If he is sent to the gallows in Pakistan, it will be the first time that the state executes a wheelchair-bound convict. Abdul Basit was convicted for murder in […]

  It was a historic moment when the deal between Iran and the west was signed. A lot of men in white coats from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will now be able to visit Iran, without sufficient prior warning, to check Iran’s nuclear plants as per the terms of the deal. However, the […]

Greece is a small country that joined the EU in 2001. To date, there are about 28 members of the EU. Recently, a historic referendum was held in Greece on further cuts and tax hikes in exchange for a rescue package from European creditors. At a first glance, I applaud the people of Greece for […]

A person having an itchy conscience, usually nicknamed a ‘whistle blower’, has to choose between life in prison (Chelsea Manning) or permanent exile (Snowden). Besides enhanced productivity, irrationality becomes a reality, an idol, in front of which everyone has to yield. A rationally organised bureaucracy that remains invisible dispenses the prescriptions for inhumanity and injustice. […]

Aftab Bahadur became the 150th victim of the hangman’s noose in Pakistan since the moratorium was lifted roughly 150 days ago. Aftab Bahadur Masih, was a Christian who was hanged after spending 23 years on death row (this is common in Pakistan, where inmates spend years in jails) in Central Jail of Kot Lakhpat, Lahore […]

Domestic violence, bonded labour, child marriages, child abuse and child labour are the never-ending social problems of Pakistan. There are seven landmark laws aimed at protecting Pakistani women — the Protection of Women Act 2006, the Anti-Rape Bill 2014, the Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Act 2012, the Women in Distress and Detention Fund (Amendment) […]

Initially, executions were carried on terrorism related charges but, in the wake of the Peshawar tragedy, the government of Pakistan decided to lift the moratorium on March 10 of this year and reinstated this heinous punishment for all death penalty offences. The PPP-led coalition government, in 2008, had placed a moratorium on executions following pressure […]

In the wake of the Peshawar terror attack, the government of Pakistan and military officials have decided to reinstate capital punishment and to establish military courts in Pakistan to hear terrorism-related cases for a period of two years. The recent and most heartbreaking massacre of innocent school children forced the government and military officials to […]

The government of Pakistan, after the terrifying attack on a Peshawar school a week ago,which took the lives of 132 school students and nine staff members, and left numerous injured, decided to reinstate capital punishment. No doubt, the whole nation is in great agony and grief. I, first of all, want to condemn such terror […]

Recently, a report published in a local newspaper said that there are 148 blasphemy accused presently in different notorious Punjab jails that are already overcrowded. It also mentioned that out of those accused, 12 have been condemned to death while 54 face life sentences along with fines. The 102 remaining cases are still pending in […]