Pakistan plans to execute as many as 500 people who have been convicted of terrorism in the coming weeks, following a recent order by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to lift the death penalty moratorium in the country; their appeals have been turned down by the president.MOSCOW, December 22 (Sputnik) Five hundred convicted terrorists are set tobe executed inPakistan withinthe next few weeks, according toan announcement which was made bythe countrys Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
We will only execute militants whose appeals formercy have been rejected bythe president [Mamnoon Hussain], Newsweek Pakistan quoted him assaying ata press conference inIslamabad onSunday.
The announcement comes inthe wake ofa recent order byPakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif tolift the death penalty moratorium inthe country, followinglast weeks attack ona school inthe northwestern city ofPeshawar, which left 149 people dead including 133 children.
The interior minister, however, has claimed the decision toend the death penalty moratorium hadn't been motivated bythat Taliban attack.
The government took the decision beforethe Peshawar school attack inlight ofthe Army chiefs suggestion toresume capital punishment asa deterrent to [potential] terrorists, he said.
Since the lift ofthe moratorium, police, troops and paramilitary rangers have been deployed acrossthe country, and airports and prisons have been put onred alert asthe executions take place and troops have intensified operations againstTaliban militants innorthwestern tribal areas.
On Monday, Prime Minister Sharif ordered the office ofthe Attorney General ofPakistan and the country's top legal team toactively pursue all cases where some courts have granted stay orders againstthe executions ofterrorists, according tothe Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune.
The prime minister said that the government is committed toeliminating terrorism atany cost.
There will be no mercy forthose who have killed our children, citizens and soldiers, the newspaper website quotes a spokesperson assaying.
The Prime Minister has also issued directions forappropriate measures forthe early disposal ofpending cases related toterrorism," AFP quotes the spokesman assaying.
The country's decision toreinstate executions has been condemned byhuman rights groups, withthe United Nations also calling forit toreconsider.
Human Rights Watch termed the executions a craven politicized reaction tothe Peshawar killings and demanded that no further hangings be carried out, according toa statement onits official website.
The global watchdog stressed that executions ofthose convicted onterrorism charges will not help bring the Peshawar school attackers tojustice and Islamabad should abstain from "vengeful blood-lust".
Maya Foa, head ofthe human rights group Reprieve, said that their research suggests that many ofthe individuals who would be first inline forexecution are simply not terrorists, and that the law is being abused ina way that perverts justice and fails tokeep anyone safe.
Since Friday, six convicts have been executed inthe country, including Russian citizen Akhlas Akhlaq, despitethe attempts ofthe Russian authorities todelay the execution.
Five ofthem were allegedly involved ina failed attempt toassassinate the then-military ruler Pervez Musharraf in2003, while one was involved ina 2009 attack onarmy headquarters.
Akhlaq repeatedly denied all charges brought againsthim and the Russian Foreign Ministry contacted the Pakistani authorities several times ina last-ditch attempt toresolve the case.
His parents say no evidence has ever been presented confirming his guilt.
BySputnik News
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