The National Assembly did not do itself proud when on Friday it passed a resolution seeking public hangings for people convicted of sexually abusing and killing children. The resolution was moved by six legislators, including Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan, after a PML-N MNA accused the government of inaction in the case of an eight-year-old Nowshera boy whose body, she said, was abused more than 100 times and a DNA test pointed to his madressah teacher. In fact, sexual crimes against children are rampant. According to an NGO Sahil's report released last September, as many as 1,304 child abuse cases were reported by the media in the first six months of 2019. But public hangings are no solution; they only brutalize society by demeaning human life. It may be recalled that during the Zia regime, two child rapists were publicly hanged in Lahore, yet that has had little effect. Evidence from around the world suggests extreme punishments do not act as deterrent.

It is good to note that two members of the cabinet, Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari and Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry, opposed the resolution in strongly-worded criticism. Mazari also explained that the resolution "was not government-sponsored but an individual act." Yet it makes the government look bad. It shows lack of a well-considered position on such an important issue. The PPP also voted against the move. Former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf rightly told the house that public hangings are not acceptable "in our or in any other society, and that ramping up the severity of punishment did not result in reduction in child abuse cases." Interestingly, however, two years ago, the PPP too had put up a similar show in the wake of rape-and-murder of little Zainab by a sexual predator of Kasur (Punjab). The then chairman of the Senate standing committee on interior, Rehman Malik, had requested the upper house to take up a bill that called for an amendment to the Pakistan Penal Code to add public hanging for those found guilty of kidnapping or raping children under the age of 14. That attempt had drawn criticism from within the party, like in the present instance, with Senator Farhatullah Babar taking the lead in opposing the proposed amendment. NP leader Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo had taken a similar stand.

As disappointing as it is to hear legislators call for medieval era punishments, two things offer a measure of satisfaction. One is that what the majority members of the assembly voted for was a mere resolution, not a law. Second and no less important, there are many sane voices in Parliament who would become no part of any move that could further dehumanize this society. The way forward is better policing. As for the punishment, it is not for the state to stoop to the level of child abusers and killers, but to quickly isolate them by putting them in prisons so that they do not harm more children.