Reference a news item; the government of Pakistan has moved a summary to convert capital punishment into life imprisonment. Capital punishment is an issue about which people feel very passionately. Traditionally the killings of criminals and political opponents were used by all societies to chastise crime and suppress political dissent. But most of the places where capital punishments is prevalent today, it is kept for only deliberate murder, espionage, treason, or as part of military justice. In a few countries, sexual violence such as rape and adultery, and even drug trafficking, are capital offenses. Capital punishment is controversial. In my opinion, it must not be completely eliminated for it deters crime, prevents relapse, is less expensive than life imprisonment and is an appropriate punishment commensurate to the severity of certain crimes. However, sometimes it can lead to execution of wrongfully convicted people, especially those who are either in minority or are too poor to defend themselves. The English law says, "let 99% criminals be acquitted instead of 1% innocent getting this punishment". While it is true that the capital punishment is part of a medieval justice tradition and has had some innocent victims, the newly available DNA evidence testing techniques have allowed exculpation of more than 15 death row inmates since 1992 in US. -KIRAN LALANI, Karachi, via e-mail, September 6.