PAKISTAN: ZARDARI WELCOMES CONTINUATION OF MORATORIUM ON DEATH PENALTY

Former President Asif Ali Zardari has welcomed the government decision to continue with the policy of the previous government on informal moratorium on executions and called for a thorough review of the death penalty in the country in the light of prevailing objective conditions on the one hand and religious obligations on the other.
Spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the former President noted with satisfaction that in deciding to continue with the moratorium policy the government was not deterred by the usual political compulsions and pressures to reject each and every policy devised by a previous government regardless of its merit.
“Continuing with rational policies of the predecessors is a sign of wisdom and political maturity that must be encouraged and welcomed”, he quoted the former President as saying.
Mr. Asif Ali Zardari recalled that in his addresses to the joint sessions of Parliament he had repeatedly called for rationality in deciding to continue or terminate policies of predecessor governments with a view to continuing good policies in national interest.
Farhatullah Babar said that Pakistan has also signed and ratified a number of international agreements that obligates us to accept the international human rights mechanisms. The second protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) signed by Pakistan calls for abolition of the death penalty and cannot be ignored for too long, he said.