I. DISPROPORTIONATE APPLICATION OF THE DEATH PENALTY Pakistan imposes the death penalty on a wide array of lesser offenses that do not constitute “the most serious crimes.” International law places strict limits on the scope and processes whereby states may engage in executions. Though not yet prohibited under international law,13 capital punishment may be imposed only for the gravest criminal offenses. Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Pakistan ratified in 2010, a “sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes . . . .”14 The United Nations Human Rights Committee, the body responsible for overseeing the interpretation and implementation of the ICCPR, maintains that the term 'most serious crimes' must be read restrictively to mean that the death penalty should be a quite exceptional measure.”15 While Article 6(2) of the ICCPR does not define the precise boundaries of what constitutes “most serious crimes”, the only crimes that clearly fall within that term are intentional killings or attempted killings.17 Through its authoritative published opinions, the Committee has held that the various lesser offenses do not constitute “the most serious crimes”16 and therefore cannot incur the death penalty without violating Article 6. At the time of Pakistan's independence in 1947, only two crimes, murder and treason, were deatheligible. Today, Pakistani law identifies 27 crimes punishable by death, in addition to terrorist offenses18 and the threat of capital punishment looms over much of the criminal justice system. During the reign of military leader Gen. Zia Ul-Haq, who initiated a campaign to “Islamize” Pakistan's legal system in the 1970s and 1980s, the list of death-eligible crimes expanded significantly to include crimes such as blasphemy19 and adultery.20 In 1997, the list grew once again to include a broadly defined array of terrorism-related offenses with the adoption of the Anti-Terrorism Act.21 Today, Pakistani law makes 27 crimes punishable by death. Many of those crimes, such as blasphemy and adultery, directly contravene the holdings of the Human Rights Committee. A “MOST SERIOUS CRIME”: PAKISTAN'S UNLAWFUL USE OF THE DEATH PENALTY 4