The Senate on Friday approved the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2025, removing the death penalty and replacing it with a maximum prison term of 25 years for offences such as public assault of women, including disrobing, and harbouring a hijacker.

Deputy Chairman Syedal Khan Nasir chaired the session, which also passed two additional bills amending the 1951 Pakistan Citizenship Act and the 1972 Extradition Act.

All three bills were presented by Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry.

Opposing the bill, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) lawmaker Samina Mumtaz Zehri remarked that laws concerning crimes against women should be made stricter, not more lenient.

She warned that easing punishments would embolden criminals, noting that the conviction rate in such cases is already low due to weak prosecution. She emphasised the need for reforms in both the police and judicial systems.

“This is not right. This is not going to help the country or its people,” she said, opposing the amendment.

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2025, seeks to amend Sections 354-A and 402-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). 

Opposition senators Ali Zafar and Samina Mumtaz Zehri also voiced their objections to the bill.

Responding to the criticism of the bill, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar told the House that harsher punishments do not necessarily deter crime. "Giving the death penalty does not reduce crimes," he said. "We have a very high crime rate, so we have to fix our system," he added. 

He recalled an incident in which village elders stripped a woman of her clothing during the regime of former military ruler Gen. Ziaul Haq.

He stated, "This law was then passed by the martial law administrator," asserting that imprisonment was a severe punishment.

"I request that we should end the terrible gift of the martial law era," the law minister urged. He further suggested that, except for the four punishments of death under Hudood laws in Sharia, no other crimes should carry capital punishment.

According to Tarar's explanation of the Extradition (Amendment) Bill, 2025, extradition law is based on a bilateral basis. 

According to him, there are five steps in Pakistan's extradition process, beginning with cabinet approval. "And after an inquiry, the federal government finally approves the extradition," he said.

He added that the amendment eliminates the requirement for cabinet approval at the initial stage. "The cases are processed under the Extradition Act, 1972, and have to be forwarded to the Federal Cabinet twice, which takes considerable time due to the busy schedule of cabinet business," he noted.

Additionally, the Senate passed the Pakistan Citizenship Act (Amendment) Bill, which allows Pakistani diaspora members to resume their Pakistani citizenship, and the Extradition (Amendment) Bill, which addresses procedural delays in extradition requests.