PENALTY

eward. The children grow up with no other objective in life than
to die for their ideology.
No major religion advocates hatred, violence and discrimination. All
condemn killing in the name of religion. In the Holy Koran, killing
one human being is considered
the equivalent of
killing all of humanity. But
there are religions in many
parts of the world that have
been hijacked to attack,
divide, control and create
hatred and fear among
“NO MAJOR RELIGION
ADVOCATES HATRED,
VIOLENCE AND
DISCRIMINATION.”
—Paul Jacob Bhatti
innocent people, including towards different faiths. This misuse of
religion is a violation of human rights. It is evil.
In fanatic and fundamentalist societies, the presence of religious minorities
sometimes triggers aggressive reactions from those who view them
as a threat. Often, false accusations are made to settle personal scores
and to target easy victims, who mostly belong to the oppressed and
marginalized sector of the community—and to further extremist agendas,
breeding real acts of violence against them, including execution.
My brother, the late Shahbaz Bhatti, was a strong advocate of a moratorium
on the death penalty in Pakistan to protect the poor and
religious minorities from being executed by fanatic extremists under
false charges and lesser forms of overt discrimination and harassment.
Although he is no longer with us, his work continues and there is still
much hope.
racial identity will no longer be crimes subject to capital
punishment. This will be a great day indeed.
• Third, religious extremists may be discouraged from committing
acts of terror if they face spending the rest of their
lives in a jail cell, instead of the delusion of instant glory
through martyrdom by state execution.
I propose that we move forward towards implementing a moratorium
on the death penalty as a major component in the creation of
a peaceful and better world. It is imperative, in these perilous times,
that the United Nations act now to overcome evil with good. We
seek to promote a fair and just world, where peace, security, welfare
and human dignity are the bedrock and baseline of who we are and
how we live.
Let us join together to impose a universal moratorium on the death
penalty. Let us save all those innocent children who are victims of an
imposed ideology that leads them to kill and die for a false reward.
Let us work together to educate our children so that they have a true
hope of becoming productive and informed citizens. And let us pray
together that Almighty God grant us the strength and resources to
resist and overcome the spirit of terror with whatever is true, noble,
right and pure.
Implementing an international moratorium on the death penalty will
reap enormous benefits that will cascade through the generations.
• First, the execution of innocent defendants caused by judicial
corruption, jury bias and error, technological malfunctions
and defects in procedural safeguards will halt immediately.
• Second, fanatic extremists will lose a powerful tool for controlling
and intimidating populations, when religious and
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