IT is a welcome step, albeit one that feels insufficient in its scope. The Senate last week passed a bill to abolish the death penalty for two specific offences — ie, harbouring hijackers and stripping a woman of her clothes in public — in a bid to align Pakistan’s laws with obligations made under the GSP-Plus trade agreement with the EU. A clause of the trade agreement requires Pakistan to ensure that the death penalty is reserved only for the most serious crimes. Both the aforementioned crimes will now carry the penalty of life imprisonment. The death penalty, like other punishments, always carries the risk of........

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