The National Assembly on Friday passed a resolution calling for public hanging of convicted child abusers and murderers.

The resolution was adopted with a majority vote after Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) opposed hanging in the public proposal. Taking part in the debate in the lower house of the Parliament, PPP’s Raja Pervez Ashraf said that Pakistan has signed the United Nations’ Charter against public hangings and the world will not accept it.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and ruling PTI lawmaker Ali Muhammad Khan introduced the resolution in the National Assembly, saying Prime Minister Imran Khan was also in favour of hanging punishment for such criminals.

He recalled that the issued was also opposed when it was first discussed in the meeting of National Assembly’s Human Rights Standing Committee headed by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. “The government plans to bring in a new law allowing the hanging of the convicted child abusers. Be ready to support the bill,” he asked his opposition colleagues.

PTI’s Imran Khattak also extended support to the resolution.

On his turn, former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf outrightly opposed the move saying that the country had signed a UN Charter against public hangings and if it was adopted then the world would not accept it. He said enhancing the punishment will not lead t0 a drop in the crime.

Surprisingly Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry also went astray from the party lines while strongly condemning the move in a tweet."This is just another grave act in line with brutal civilisation practices. Societies act in a balanced way. Barbarism is not the answer to crimes, this is another expression of extremism," he argued.

Federal Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari also punched a hole in Minister Ali Muhammad Khan’s move clarifying that the government was not behind the resolution. "Many of us oppose it — our MOHR (Ministry of Human Rights) strongly opposes this. Unfortunately I was in a meeting and wasn't able to go to NA," she said in a tweet.

The House also condemned killing of a minor child after sexual assault in Nowshera. Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri presided over the National Assembly session.

The lower house of the parliament was also informed about the incidents of sexual harassment involving children in Islamabad, which saw a drop. Sixty cases were registered in 2019 as compared to 66 cases of child abuse in the previous year 2018 with 80 arrests in 2018 and 75 in 2019.