Islamabad:
On Friday, the Senate adopted the Criminal Law Bill (amendment), eliminating the death penalty for the assault of women, including undress and to host a hacker and replace it with a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
The Chamber, which met the vice-president Syedal Khan Nasir, in the president, also adopted two other bills requesting modifications to the 1972 law on extradition, and Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951.
The three bills were tabled by the Minister of State in the Interior Talal Chaudhry.
The Criminal Law Bill (amendment), 2025, offers changes to articles 354-A and 402-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). However, opposition senators Ali Zafar and Samina Mumtaz Zehri opposed the bill.
In response, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar told the House that the gravity of the punishment was not necessarily dissolving crime. “Giving the death penalty does not reduce crimes,” he said. “We have a very high crime rate, so we have to repair our system,” he added.
He referred to an incident in the regime of the former military sovereign Gen Ziaul Haq, in which the village elders had torn a woman’s clothes. “This law was then adopted by the martial law administrator,” he recalls, adding that life imprisonment has remained a very serious punishment.
“I ask at the end of the terrible donation from the era of the martial law,” said the Minister of Law in the House. He suggested that apart from the four sanctions for the death indicated in Sharia law under Hudood laws, there should not be other capital punishment.
With regard to the extradition bill (amendment), 2025, Tarar said that the extradition law was bilateral. In Pakistan, the extradition process implies five steps, starting with the approval of the cabinet. “And after an investigation, the federal government finally approves extradition,” he said.
He explained that the bill had abolished the requirement for approval of the cabinet at the initial stadium. “The cases are treated under the 1972 law on extradition and must be transmitted twice to the federal office, which takes a long time due to the schedule of the firm’s activity,” he noted.
The statement of the objectives of the Pakistani citizenship bill (amendment) stressed that a large number of Pakistani abroad have been forced to give up their citizenship to acquire the nationality of a foreign country for residence or legal stay.
However, when these countries subsequently concluded dual nationality agreements with Pakistan, there was no provision in the law on citizenship allowing them to resume Pakistani citizenship. The amendment now provides legal coverage to allow the diaspora to recover its citizenship.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Federal Education and Wajiha Qamar vocational training presented the Federal Bill for Intermediate Education and Secondary Education (amendment), as reported by the permanent committee concerned.
The statement of the objectives of the bill declared that the law had been modified to provide a complete framework for the board of directors to organize, regulate, conduct and supervise intermediate and secondary education in accordance with international best practices.
The proposed changes aim to facilitate rapid and flexible decision -making while allowing the board of directors to establish international collaborations. The composition of the council has also been revised to adopt a more inclusive structure.
Speaking on the bill, Tarar said that measures had been taken to reduce the workload on the federal government, with several delegated responsibilities of the federal cabinet. He added that the provincial representation had also been ensured within the restructured commission.
During the procedure, Senator Humayun Mohmand informed the room that private recruitment agencies had sent Pakistani girls to Serbia, where they were forced to prostitution. He demanded that the case be referred to the committee concerned.
The Minister of State in Law, Aqeel, Malik, replied by declaring that the Pakistani mission had no role in sending girls to Serbia. He revealed that 38 individuals from Pakistan had gone there for jobs on fruit and vegetable farms. The case was then referred to the committee concerned by the president.
In addition, Senator Abdul Shakoor drew the attention of the room to the “looting of private medicine faculties”.
Lawyer Malik also deposited the national agri-trame and food security order, 2025. The session was then adjourned until Monday.
