A wave of outrage spread among the Pakistani nation when the news about the gruesome murder of innocent Zainab went viral on social media. There was hardly any person in Pakistan who didn’t view the picture of the victim in his/her news feed. They all wanted nothing less than capital punishment and public hanging for the culprit.
While almost everyone agrees that Zainab’s murderer should be given severe punishment, the question of whether capital punishment can really help eradicate the crime or not remains unanswered.
Debate on Capital Punishment in Pakistan
The debate on capital punishment is not an old one. Almost 140 countries of the world have already abolished it for many reasons.
Recently, Anti Terrorism Court issued death warrants of Zainab’s culprit Imran and people on social media started demanding a public hanging for the convict.
Even those against the death penalty also welcomed Anti-Terrorism Court’s decision to issue death warrants of Zainab’s culprit.
As a peace lover it is, at times, hard to reconcile when I support the death penalty.
In cases such as these, however, (if the evidence is irrefutable) I say:
Good. Make an example of these bastards.
Children's safety should be one of the highest priorities. https://t.co/u9KLxaPadT
— Cynthia Ritchie (@CynthiaDRitchie) October 12, 2018
Amidst all those tweets about the condemnation of Imran’s inhumane acts and his deserving of the fate he was going to meet, a debate started among few notable Twitter users of Pakistan who included Nadia Hussain, Amna Taseer, and Shehbaz Taseer.
Kind of terrifying when your Human Rights Minister supports capital punishment in a country where hundreds of people are falsely accused, wrongfully convicted and so on. https://t.co/Qh5DLUvX6p
— Maham Nasir (@lightermachis) October 10, 2018
Then came the opinion of Aamna Taseer, the wife Ex-Governor Punjab Salman Taseer who was murdered by Mumtaz Qadri for committing blasphemy. She tweeted that despite losing her husband to terrorism she didn’t support capital punishment.
I lost my husband Shaheed @SalmaanTaseer to terrorism , but I don’t believe in capital punishment! https://t.co/hiKhz29owo
— Aamna Taseer (@AamnaTaseer) October 10, 2018
Nadia Hussain Questions Aamina Taseer’s Opinion
Supermodel and actress Nadia Hussain who never shies away from giving her opinion on any matter asked Aamna why she didn’t stop the hanging of her husband’s murder.
Then u should've stopped the hanging of your husband's murderer!!
— NADIA HUSSAIN (@NADIAHUSSAIN_NH) October 11, 2018
Shehreyar Taseer Explaining Position of Her Mother
Aamna Taseer and Salman Taseer’s son Shehreyar Taseer jumped in and explained his mother’s stance. In his reply, he told Nadia that The case was State vs. Qadri and it was the court that convicted him and hanged him.
My mother didn’t hang Qadri, the procession in the law did… the case was State V Qadri. Check ur insinuations! The courts convicted him, the courts sentenced him, and under the courts instruction he was hanged.
— Shehryar Taseer (@shehryar_taseer) October 12, 2018
Here came another Twitter user who cleared the air by saying that it is possible for a person to not feel like pardoning the culprit and also being against the death penalty at the same time.
https://twitter.com/Listenclosely3/status/1050653090238451718
Zainab Murder Case and Capital Punishment
The issuance of the death warrant by Anti-Terrorism Court for Zainab’s culprit is one such example, how things can be so obscure at times. Zainab’s murder had raised an outcry in Pakistan. Hence, it is almost impossible for even those who don’t support the death penalty to pardon Imran who raped and murdered a minor.
But, few questions still need an answer. Isn’t it so that capital punishment is a norm for centuries but still it has failed to stop murderers from committing crimes against humanity.? And, isn’t it so that curing cancer by cutting the affected part of the body can’t save the person from being handicapped and doesn’t guarantee if the body will not suffer from the same disease in future. It may not be easy for courts to not award death penalty to culprits like Imran but society shouldn’t rely on such punishments for the eradication of the heinous crime of child abuse and must take some curative measures.
