Pak has over 50 kids on Death Row 8212; Report

ISLAMABAD, NOV 22: There are over 50 children on Death Row in Pakistan and though death sentences imposed on juveniles are usually commut...

ISLAMABAD, NOV 22: There are over 50 children on Death Row in Pakistan and though death sentences imposed on juveniles are usually commuted on appeal, Pakistan is one of the six countries in the world known to have executed juvenile offenders in the 1990s, a report of a US-based organisation, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

The organisation, which has conducted a study on juvenile justice in Pakistan, has asked the Pakistan government to prohibit the death penalty for those under 18.

An earlier report by the organisation on violence against women, which was released in October was dismissed by the Nawaz Sharif government as 8220;baseless.8221;

The report said that children accused of committing criminal offences were routinely tortured by police and they spent many months, even years, in overcrowded jails waiting for their trials to conclude.

The report 8220;Prison Bound: The Denial of Juvenile Justice in Pakistan8221; said that the treatment of children in the Pakistani prisons violated local laws aswell.

It said that while the law required the police to bring arrested children before a court within 24 hours, the police did so after several weeks in practice.

Children are routinely beaten up and are made to share cells with adults, says the study. It also contends that there were 3,700 children in Pakistani jails by end 1997 and nearly 90 per cent were awaiting a decision on their trials. Children were made to sleep without beds and in very basic conditions. There are also reports of sexual abuse of children by guards and cell mates while there is no system of redressal.

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There are also no vocational and educational facilities in jails to cater to children, the report said.

The Human Rights Watch has made recommendations to the government to give children facilities according to the International Conventions on Children.However, many religious groups have attacked the New-York based organisation as being a 8220;Zionist funded body8221; that pursues an 8220;anti-Pakistan agenda.8221;Independent lawyers,however, have confirmed the findings of the organisation.