The National Assembly on Friday passed a resolution, demanding public hanging of offenders convicted for sexually abusing and murdering children. The resolution moved by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan was passed with majority of votes as Pakistan People's Party (PPP) objected to the move, saying Pakistan is signatory to certain international conventions which prohibits public hangings of convicts and it will not go well with the international community.
The issue was raised during question hour when Ministry of Interior in a written reply told the House that a total of 60 cases of child sexual abuse were reported in 2019 and 66 such cases were registered in 2018.
Imran Khattak, PTI MNA from Nowshera, pointed out a case of child abuse in his constituency and recalled that he had moved a resolution in the previous sitting which could not be taken up. Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri who was chairing the House allowed Minister for Parliamentary Affairs to move the resolution which was passed consequently with majority of vote.
"This house strongly condemns the brutal killing of an 8-year old Hooz Noor in Nowshera and 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," reads the resolution.
PPP senior leader and former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf objected to the resolution, saying that his party wants strict punishment such as life terms and unbearable sentences for the rapists of the children.
"You cannot just stop the crimes with public hanging...Pakistan is signatory to certain international conventions which prohibit public hangings," he said. Ali Mohammad Khan said the government had proposed death penalty to child molesters in Zainab Alert Bill but Bilawal Bhutto Zardari who is chairman of National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights opposed the death sentence. "We hope that death sentence should be awarded to the convicts in such cases", the minister added.
In a written reply to the House, Minister for Interior Ijaz Shah said that in Federal Capital back in 2018, a total of 80 accused persons were arrested whereas in 2019, a total number of 75 accused persons were arrested in child sexual abuse cases.
Out of which, no accused was convicted in year 2018, he said, adding that one accused have been convicted in year 2019, whereas, remaining accused persons are facing trial. To another question about the rate of crimes across Pakistan, the minister told the House that Punjab was leading with 490,155 crimes during the year 2019 compared to 409,030 in 2018, showing a 20 percent increase in crime rates.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a total of 178,131 crimes were registered in 2019 compared to 183,144 in 2018, showing a two percent reduction in crime rates. Additionally, in Sindh, a total of 80,844 crimes were registered in 2019 against 74,937 in 2018, showing a seven percent increase whereas in Balochistan 9,393 cases were registered in 2019 compared to 8,763 in 2018, showing a six percent rise.
In Islamabad, 4,100 crime cases were registered in 2019 compared to 4,342 in 2018, showing a five percent decline in crimes whereas in AJK, 7,403 crimes were registered in 2019 compared to 7,491 in 2018, showing a one percent decrease in crime rates.
To another question, the interior minister told the House that at present, there are 47,036,318 persons who possess passports in the country, of which 46,705,264 are ordinary passports, 6,496 diplomatic and 324,558 officials.
Responding to a supplementary question, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs said the official passports were mostly issued to government officials who used to travel abroad for official purposes and those were temporary in nature and expire after a certain period.
To another query, the Interior Minister said that so far no special package or policy had been devised for providing the right of citizenship by birth to Bengali refugees residing in Pakistan.
In a written reply to the House, the Interior Minister rejected the impression that the illegal organ trafficking cases were growing in the country. He said that seven cases were registered during the last three years whereas 37 accused persons were arrested in those cases. Since the cases were under trial, no punishment had been awarded so far, he added.
The minister also updated the House on the agreement made with Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) on 31st October 2018 and 2nd November 2018, saying the agreement between TLP and the government was facilitated by government of Punjab at Lahore. At Federal level, he said that Ministry of Religious Affairs was coordinating with government of Punjab.
During the Dharna from 1st to 3rd November, 2018, six criminal cases were registered by ICT Police against the protestors, who were involved in the agitation and roads blockades. In all, 44 accused were arrested and sent to judicial custody and challans against them were sent by ICT Administration to the concerned courts where they are facing trial.
He said that no damages were caused by the protestors to the public and private property within the Islamabad Capital Territory. He also stated that neither anyone was seriously injured, died nor any damage was caused to the public/private property by the protestors within Islamabad/ ICT.
To another query, he said that national identity cards were issued to 1,637 non-nationals during 2009-12 and 474 during 2013-18 to non-nationals that have been cancelled. He said that more than 240 employees had been dismissed from service on charges of illegal processing of CNICs to foreign nationals.
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