EU warns Pak resuming death penalty could deter prospective trade status

The European Union human rights delegation has warned Pakistan that resuming executions of criminals and militants could act as a major setback to the prospective trade status of the country, which is under consideration of the European Parliament.

European officials are due to visit Pakistan to assess the human rights situation in the country before granting it access to the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP)-plus status for preferential trade tariffs, the Dawn News reports.

According to the report, the countries, which want to gain GSP-plus status, are required to ratify and implement a series of international conventions relating to labour rights and governance.

EU Ambassador to Pakistan Lars-Gunnar Wigemark said that the EU's position on the abolition of the death penalty was very clear as they believed that the executions will not deter any violent crime, including terrorism.

Earlier, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government had decided to scrap the five-year moratorium on the death penalty in June in a bid to crack down on criminals and militants in the violence-torn country.

However, objections from President Asif Ali Zardari and human rights groups had forced a temporary stay on the Executions of three prisoners last week.

Pakistan has been trying to reinvigorate its ailing economy by boosting business with the EU, the report added.

Human rights group Amnesty International had estimated that Pakistan has more than 8,000 prisoners on death row and most of whom have exhausted the appeals process.