KARACHI: As the clock ticks and the hours go by, some 6,000 Pakistani prisoners on death row are waiting to hear the verdict on how much longer they have to live. President Asif Ali Zardari had granted a stay on execution of death row convicts until June 30 this year.
Since 2008, none of the jailers across the country had to shed a red handkerchief because Zardari had granted a stay on executions reportedly when he took charge in September 2008.
Article 45 of the 1973 Constitution empowers the president to pardon or remit convictions. The article reads, “President shall have the power to grant pardon, reprieve and respite, and to remit, suspend or commute any sentence passed by any court, tribunal or other authority.”
When officials at the presidency were asked, they denied knowledge of anything substantial being on the president’s table regarding this.
According to the presidency, after the passage of 18th amendment, once an ordinance is promulgated by the president, it needs vetting by the parliament to be endorsed, extended or validated.
Once it gets proved, it goes to the presidency through the law ministry to get promulgated, but still needs parliament’s approval.
Pakistan is believed to have one of the largest populations of condemned prisoners and inmates on death row in the world — 7,164 according to official prison records. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan records 8,000.
The issue is more under the spotlight in Karachi, Pakistan’s most volatile urban hub, where a petition was filed by the Sindh High Court Bar Association pleading to direct the government for execution of the convicts on death row in Sindh to bring peace to the commercial hub of country, which is torn by frequent target killings.
Internews
