ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has called for chemical castration and death penalty for convicted rapists during a meeting of the federal cabinet on Tuesday, the information minister said, instructing the law ministry to draft an ordinance within a week to curb violent sexual crimes that mostly target women and children.
"The federal cabinet has approved in principle the rape law ... we want it to be a specific and clear law without any loopholes," Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said while briefing the media on Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Ordinance and Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, after the cabinet meeting.
The prime minister first advocated the use of chemical castration in September following the gang rape of a mother in front of her children on a major highway in Punjab province.
Faraz said the prime minister was disturbed by a recent incident in Sindh where a mother and her young daughter were raped by a group of men who lured the woman on the pretext of giving her a job.
"The number of rape cases is increasing," he admitted, hoping that the provisions of the proposed ordinance would act as an effective deterrent and prevent such incidents in the future.
If Pakistan legalizes chemical castration of rapists, it will join a small group of nations that allow such punishment, including Indonesia, Poland, Russia and Estonia, as well as some states in the United States.
Legal experts and rights activists previously told Arab News that harsh punishments were not likely to halt the rising tide of sexual violence in the country and the government needed to tackle a culture of misogyny.
Pakistan already has severe sentences for rape though they are seldom implemented: 10-25 years in prison for rape and life imprisonment or death for gang rape.
Sarah Zaman, a director at War Against Rape, a non-government organization based in Karachi, said rape was rampant in Pakistan due to systematic flaws to hold culprits accountable.
"Instead of increasing the punishments, we need to defeat the culture that encourages such crimes," she said.
Zaman also urged the government to strengthen the criminal justice system to increase the conviction rate in rape cases from the current four percent and to ensure "timely justice."
Pakistani PM principally approves chemical castration, death penalty for rape convicts
https://arab.news/53z7g
Pakistani PM principally approves chemical castration, death penalty for rape convicts
- Khan instructed the law ministry to prepare a stricter rape ordinance within a week while chairing the cabinet meeting
- Experts believe Pakistan needs to address the culture that encourages such crimes rather than impose stricter punishments
Pakistan, seven Muslim nations back Palestinian technocratic body, stress Gaza-West Bank unity
- The National Committee for the Administration of the Gaza Strip was announced on January 14
- Muslim nations call for consolidation of the ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and seven other Muslim-majority countries on Thursday welcomed the formation of a temporary Palestinian technocratic body to administer Gaza, stressing that it must manage daily civilian affairs while preserving the institutional and territorial link between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank amid the ongoing peace efforts.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Türkiye, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates said the newly announced National Committee for the Administration of the Gaza Strip would play a central role during the second phase of a broader peace plan aimed at ending the war and paving the way for Palestinian self-governance.
“The Ministers emphasize the importance of the National Committee commencing its duties in managing the day-to-day affairs of the people of Gaza, while preserving the institutional and territorial link between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, ensuring the unity of Gaza, and rejecting any attempts to divide it,” the statement said.
The committee, announced on Jan. 14, is a temporary transitional body established under United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 and is to operate in coordination with the Palestinian Authority, the ministers said.
The statement said the move forms part of the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s Comprehensive Peace Plan for Gaza, which the ministers said they supported, praising Trump’s efforts to end the war, ensure the withdrawal of Israeli forces and prevent the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
The top leaders of all eight Muslim countries attended a meeting with Trump in New York last September, shortly before he unveiled the Gaza peace plan.
The ministers also called for the consolidation of the ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza, early recovery and reconstruction and the eventual return of the Palestinian Authority to administer the territory, leading to a just and sustainable peace based on UN resolutions and a two-state solution on pre-1967 lines with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
