Adil Najam
Here is a rather gruesome ad from the Punjab Anti-Narcotics Force, warning prospective pilgrims going for Hajj to Saudi Arabia of the dangers of drug trafficking.
The painted bill board ad makes the point, rather graphically and quite clearly that anyone caught bringing drugs into Saudi Arabia will face death. One wonders, however, if that point is being made a little more graphically than necessary.
The wording on the billboard (seemingly quite large and on an outdoor public location) says:
Don’t unknowingly invite death.
By taking someone’s else luggage or unnecessary foreign or local medications do not put your own life at risk.
Taking narcotics or addictive elements to Saudi Arabia will result in a certain death penalty.
Anti-Narcotics Force (Punjab).
How, I wonder, does a parent explain to a child who sees this billboard why the Arab-looking man is beheading the Pakistani-looking man with such gusto.
One wonders who it is that really gives Muslims a ‘bad name’? The message for the prospective drug smuggler to Saudi Arabia is quite clear. But, what is the message for the rest of us? And the rest of the world?
I don’t know what goes in a criminals mind, and why he is committing this heinous crimes. But the punishment of beheading is too gruesome. This just shows how much saudi people value life. People who encorage it are sick in my view. The picture is there because, people should know about the penalty. I am rather of the view, the punishment should have been a life time prison or some thing lesser but not taking of life in this fashion. I have lived in an arab country near Saudi Arabia, they always showed superiority, even I was Pakistani they used to call me hindi. I have been taught Islamic studies in every class from grade 1 to university. I would say its not Islamic to behead people.
As for the banner I would say it is showing a true picture of the saudies brutality. A picture says a thousand words.
To Adnan Siddiqi:
“I believe that punishments proposed 1500 years ago are STILL infinite times better than 3rd degree torture and others given in jails of Gitmo and Abughariab.”
….really ?
I am amused by the sensibilities of people trying to justify beheadings. I don’t quite understand why we are so obsessed with meting out these horrific punishments when we do nothing to address the root causes of crime.
:-), a good one Adnan!
Its a pity that most of the people leaving from Pakistan are so illiterate, that such depictions are needed to make the matter clear!
Illiteracy to a second-degree is when one can read, but needs such depictions to imply seriousness of the matter.
drpak,
Tell me one thing. If Saudi Arabia is a drug-free society, as you say it is, then why all these people try to smuggle drugs into that country even at the risk of their lives?
Another point, the subject of crime and punishment has been studied and researched for decades. There is no evidence that gruesome punishments help minimize crime. If they did they would have run out of criminals in Saudi Arabia by now for they have been chopping off heads for as long as one can remember.
What does deter criminals, however, is the belief in a society that no one could get away from the clutches of the law. Once caught (and caught they will be), the law will take its own course, regardless of who the criminal is. And, of course, prevention or better policing.
Gruesome public punishments — beheading, hanging, lashing or stoning — do not deter criminals. They only brutalize the society.