Pakistan, Malaysia Need To Work Closely For Legal And Judicial Reform

PETALING JAYA, Oct 26 (NNN) -- Malaysia and Pakistan should forge closer regional cooperation, particularly at the Asia-Pacific and South-South levels, to advance legal and judicial reforms, said Pakistan’s Minister of Law and Justice Aqeel Malik.

He said both nations enjoy strong bilateral relations and share a common goal in legal and judicial transformation, despite being at different stages of implementation.

“Pakistan has enacted a lot of reforms, and we see that similar steps are being taken in Malaysia as well.

“So it is a step in the right direction for both our countries and generally for the region,” he told the media on the sidelines of the Ending the Death Penalty in Asia: Reform Pathways, Comparative Perspectives and Path Forward conference here on Monday.

Malaysia abolished the mandatory death penalty in 2023 while Pakistan abolished the death penalty for drug-related offences in the same year.

According to Aqeel, the move does not imply Pakistan’s leniency towards drug offenders.

“We (Pakistan) have removed it based on the evidence that we have had from our courts as well as how and what effect it was having on our sort of prison numbers. We saw that the death penalty alone was not deterring people from committing crimes.

“A lot of them were women and children being used as drug mules. We took this approach based on the evidence that we have from courts,” he said.

The minister said a human rights-based approach needs to be taken on a number of issues and domestic legislation may be reviewed to bring it in line with international obligations.

Laws from colonial times need to be reviewed periodically to ensure they are updated with modern views and made more holistic, he added.

--NNN