{"id":2780,"date":"2015-07-08T16:39:35","date_gmt":"2015-07-08T16:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/box5917.temp.domains\/~iriacom\/\/news\/?p=2780"},"modified":"2015-07-09T17:13:44","modified_gmt":"2015-07-09T17:13:44","slug":"eu-justifies-its-criticism-on-pakistans-death-penalties-offers-counter-terrorism-cooperation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/eu-justifies-its-criticism-on-pakistans-death-penalties-offers-counter-terrorism-cooperation\/","title":{"rendered":"EU justifies its criticism on Pakistan’s death penalties; offers counter-terrorism cooperation"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sana Jamal (IRIA Researcher)<\/em><\/p>\n

ISLAMABAD \u2013 Pakistan has sent at least 160 convicted criminals to the gallows since Pakistan lifted the moratorium on executions in the aftermath of cold-blooded murder of 140 school children in Peshawar on 16 Dec. 2014 by terrorists.<\/p>\n

This tragic event shocked the nation and sparked off a public demand to execute those responsible for terrorism and high-profile crimes.<\/p>\n

However, Pakistan\u2019s decision to send terrorists and notorious criminals to the gallows came under criticism by international and some national organizations citing flaw in Pakistan\u2019s judicial system and police interrogation.<\/p>\n

Amnesty International has described the decision to reinstate the death penalty as a \u201cshameful retreat to the gallows\u201d which is \u201cno way to resolve Pakistan\u2019s pressing security and law-and-order problems\u201d.<\/p>\n

A European Union (EU) statement<\/a><\/span> issued in Brussels on June 10, 2015 called the death penalties \u201ca major step backwards in Pakistan\u2019s record on human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement warned that \u201cPakistan\u2019s obligations under domestic and international law prohibit the death sentence for crimes committed by persons under eighteen years of age and require prompt and impartial investigation where there is reasonable ground to believe that torture has been committed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pakistan, however, has overruled<\/a><\/span> the European Union\u2019s (EU) concerns arguing that Pakistan is not violating international laws and \u201conly convicts involved in heinous crimes are being executed.\u201d Foreign Office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah explained in a briefing that awarding of death sentences is under international laws and it is Pakistan\u2019s internal affair.<\/p>\n

The EU\u2019s reaction to Pakistan\u2019s move raised eyebrows in Pakistan\u2019s authoritative circle while several Pakistanis termed it as interference in Pakistan\u2019s judicial system.<\/p>\n

To elucidate the EU stance, this correspondent sought a clarification on the issue to which the EU Representative in Pakistan justified the western concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cTerrorism is a common enemy to all nations and peoples in the world and the European Union countries encourage the respect and strengthening of rule of law above all and is ready for co-operation against terrorism,\u201d Mr. Stefano Gatto, Acting Head of Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan said.<\/p>\n

The June 2015 EU statement reminded that effective implementation of the international conventions is a requirement for Pakistan under the European Union\u2019s GSP+ Regulation.<\/p>\n

EU representative reiterated: \u201cWe also co-operate in several forms in counter-terrorism activities, terrorism is a common enemy to all nations and peoples in the world\u201d, he recalled but added \u201cGSP+ is a set of concessions aiming at supporting economic development to favour a positive trend in the improvement of human rights standards on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Stefano Gatto recalled that \u201cIt is not that the EU countries have not been exposed to horrible terrorist attacks, but we do not believe death penalty is a useful deterrent to prevent and avoid terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The European Union holds a strong position against the death penalty; its abolition is a key objective for the Union\u2019s human rights policy as outlined in the EU Guidelines on the death penalty, the first ever human rights guidelines adopted by Council, in 1998.<\/p>\n

When asked why EU is opposed death penalties for terrorists in Pakistan, EU official reasoned that \u201cthe problem with death penalty is its irreversibility, which requires total certainty and very high standards of performance of the judicial system in order to avoid possible and abuses, which would have no remedy possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EU official also noted that when linking between death penalty and fight against terrorism, out of 170 persons executed in Pakistan since the lifting of the moratorium, only 23 were condemned for terrorism, and they were executed in the very first weeks of action.<\/p>\n

When asked about concern in Pakistan that \u201cwestern countries are allegedly putting pressure on Pakistan to go against its judicial convictions and that EU\u2019s GSP+ concessions<\/a><\/span> is linked with the reprieve for terrorists\u201d, the EU envoy termed it a misplaced concerned.<\/p>\n

EU official, Mr. Stefano Gatto, explained that \u201cthe EU countries encourage the respect and strengthening of rule of law above all, and cooperation in anti-terrorism is but GSP+ is a set of concessions aiming at supporting economic development to favour a positive trend in the improvement of human rights standards on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sana Jamal (IRIA Researcher) ISLAMABAD \u2013 Pakistan has sent at least 160 convicted criminals to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[124,62,1],"tags":[137,204,24,357,8,11],"class_list":["post-2780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-europe","category-news","tag-asia","tag-crisis","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-pakistan","tag-terrorism"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/EU-flag.jpg?fit=690%2C370&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jJWb-IQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2780"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2783,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2780\/revisions\/2783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}