Pakistan Parliament passes resolution demanding public hanging of child sexual abusers

Pakistan's Parliament on Friday passed a resolution demanding public hanging of those convicted of sexually abusing and murdering children amid increasing incidents of crime against them.

The resolution, which referred to the brutal killing and sexual assault of an eight-year-old girl in Nowshera area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in 2018, was passed with majority votes as it was supported by all lawmakers except those belonging to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of former premier Benazir Bhutto.

Former premier and PPP leader Raja Pervez Ashraf said that pubic hanging was violation of UN rules and punishment cannot mitigate crimes. “Ramping up the severity of punishments does not result in a reduction in crime."

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan presented the resolution in the House which strongly condemned the incidents of child sexual abuse.

“This house demands that to stop these shameful and brutal killings of children and give a strong deterrent effect, the killers and rapists should not only be given death penalty by hanging but they should be hanged publicly,” it read.

However, the resolution was condemned by two ministers who were not present in the house at the time voting.

“Strongly condemn this resolution this is just another grave act in line with brutal civilisation practices, societies act in a balanced way barberiaism is not answer to crimes...... this is another expression of extremism,” Minister for Science Fawad Chaudhry tweeted in reaction.

Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari also expressed anger.

“The resolution passed in NA (National Assembly) today on public hangings was across party lines and not a government-sponsored resolution but an individual act. Many of us oppose it - our MOHR (Ministry of Human Rights) strongly opposes this. Unfortunately I was in a meeting and wasn't able to go to NA,” she tweeted.

According to a report released by child rights organisation Sahil in September last year, 1,304 cases of sexual abuse of children were reported by the media in the country from January to June. This means that at least seven children are abused every day.