Seventeen convicted terrorists, whose appeals and mercy petitions have been dismissed, will be executed in the next few days.
After Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s decision to lift moratorium on death penalty in militant-related cases, these 17 terrorists will be first to be hanged.
Sources said the premier has been apprised of the first group of militants and that the process will take a few days. “Their death warrants will be issued and their relatives will be called in to have their last meeting with the 17 militants,” sources added.
Out of 17 terrorists, 10 belong to Punjab, six are from Sindh and one is from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Since the 2008 moratorium in Pakistan, only one man was executed in 2012. There are more than 8,000 convicted on death row, however due to the moratorium their executions could not be carried out.
The prime minister removed the moratorium on terror-related cases, but not on other offenses in the wake of December 16 attack on a school in Peshawar which killed at least 141 people, mostly students.
