Noose tightened around two terrorists

• Mohammed Aqeel alias Dr Usman and Arshad Mehmood executed, four more terrorists to be hanged soon after Gen Raheel signs death warrants, Interior Ministry clears 22 prisoners for execution
• Security at jails beefed up; army takes control of Faisalabad jail, defence minister says establishment of military courts underway

Out of the six hardcore terrorists who were to be executed following 24 hours of the signing of their death warrants by General Raheel Sharif, the first two who were marched to the gallows included Mohammed Aqeel alias Dr Usman, a former member of the army’s medical corps and Arshad Mehmood, a former trooper. Jail security where convicts on death row are housed was beefed up as the two were hanged in Faisalabad District Central Jail.

According to jail sources, both the terrorists were scared when they were being moved towards gallows and were crying. They were begging for mercy and declared that there were extremely regretful for the involvement in terrorist activities and killing of innocent human beings.

“We appeal to those who were involved in terrorism to give up such activities as killing of human beings was against the teachings of Islam,” the jail sources quoted them as saying moments before the execution.

In the meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that the process of establishing military courts for the purpose of trying terror suspects was already underway.

Sticking to its stance of showing no leniency to convicted terrorists following the Peshawar attack, the government Friday gave the go-ahead to all inspectors general to execute 22 prisoners on death row for terrorism-related acts.

Speaking to a news channel, the defence minister said carrying out of death penalty against terrorists would begin soon, adding that the government had consciously decided to lift the moratorium on capital punishment. He further said that the process of establishing military courts for trying terror suspects was already underway.

Asif added that there would be no discrimination in the carrying out convictions of terrorists who have been sentenced to death and whose appeals have been rejected.

Earlier, sources said arrangements for the final meetings of the prisoners with their families were made. Dr Usman’s meeting was arranged with his brother, who was handed over his body after the execution.

Dr Usman, who was caught injured during a raid on the army headquarters by militants, was sentenced to death in 2011 by a military court which had awarded prison terms to others who attacked General Headquarter (GHQ) in 2009.

A retired soldier, Imran Siddiq, was awarded life imprisonment in the case at the time whereas three civilians — Khaliqur Rehman, Mohammad Usman and Wajid Mehmood — were given life terms while two others, Mohammad Adnan and Tahir Shafiq (both civilians), were given eight and seven years jail sentence, respectively.

Apart from Dr Usman, other serviceman and five civilians were found guilty of abetment.

Their trial by the military court, which was headed by a brigadier, had lasted over five months and had taken place at an undisclosed location.

Mehmood, who was a trooper, was among the five sentenced to be hanged for their role in an Al Qaeda-inspired assassination attempt on Musharraf’s life in late 2003. Fifteen people were killed in that attack. Several soldiers, air force personnel and militants were arrested after the two attacks.

Mehmood and civilians Zubair Ahmed, Rashid Bhatti, Rashid Qureshi, Ghulam Sarwar and Akhlaque Ahmed were convicted in the case.

22 PRISONERS TO BE EXECUTED SOON:

Following Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s decision to lift moratorium on executions after the massacre by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists at Peshawar’s Army Public School and College on Tuesday, an official said prison chiefs have been asked to further proceed with 22 cases cleared by the Interior Ministry for execution.

“With the addition of these prisoners, the number of those to be executed has now reached 85,” the official said.

The mercy pleas of the 22 prisoners were rejected by then president Pervez Musharraf.

“The law wing of the Interior Ministry is now looking into 378 more such cases,” the official added.

According to another source, convicts in the Gujrat military camp attack were also on the execution list.

298 DEATH CONVICTS LYING IN SIALKOT JAIL:

Moreover, 298 death sentence convicts including five female are lying in the death cells of Sialkot District Jail.

According to jail officials, 293 male death sentence convicts have been kept in 48 death cells, while five female death sentence victims have been kept in three death cells in the jail.

Mercy petitions of 24 convicts were lying with the President Mamnoon Hussain, appeals of 59 convicts were in the Supreme Court and appeals of 215 convicts were lying before the Lahore High Court (LHC).

As many as 38 convicts were awarded death sentence by the Anti Terrorism Courts (ATCs) in different murder cases. According to the jail menu, the daily expenditures of a death sentence awarded convict was Rs 80 per day.

As many as 6358 death sentence awarded convicts including 29 female convicts had been lying in prison in all the 32 prisons in Punjab province and their monthly expenditures are Rs15 million per month, it was reported.

SEVEN KP TERROR CONVICTS LIKELY TO BE HANGED:

Furthermore, seven prisoners in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) sentenced to death under the Anti Terrorism Act (ATA) and are likely to be hanged after PM Sharif lifted the moratorium on the death penalty.

KP Prisons Inspector General (IG) Kifayatullah Khan reportedly said that the total number of prisoners sentenced to death and currently imprisoned is 192 out of which six or seven are those who had been charged and punished under the ATA.

According to jail statistics, the total number of prisoners in KP jails is 8,955 with Haripur having the highest number with 1,941, Peshawar Central jail with 1,859, Bannu with 718 and Dera Ismail Khan with 340 prisoners.

The remaining prisoners are kept in other jails of the province.

Responding to a query about threats to jails in Peshawar after the school attack, the IG said that the execution of condemned prisoners was banned in 2008, “but we are progressing with the procedure as per new directives”.

Regarding the links of prisoners to militant groups, Khan said that it was not the jail authority’s mandate. However, those convicted under the ATA or charged under Articles 302 and 788 are applicable under terror charges, he said.

Khan also remarked that security was on high alert following intelligence reports of looming threats.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar also chaired a high level meeting to discuss the issue of prisoners on death row under the terrorism act. All home departments’ top officials will brief him on this issue. A report is also expected to be filed on Monday by IGs of all provinces detailing the number of prisoners on death row held in prisons.

JAILS SECURITY BEEFED UP:

Moreover, the government on Friday ordered all provincial prison chiefs to deploy more police units with the cooperation of all other paramilitary forces at all major jails in the country.

A senior official of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) reportedly said that Rangers are also being deployed in jails where high profile prisoners involved in the attack on the Sri Lankan Cricket Team, Jhanda Chichi, attack on former military chief Pervez Musharraf’s convoy, attack on a military camp near River Chenab (Gujrat), the military headquarters in Rawalpindi, Naval Headquarter attack, FC Peshawar Headquarter, All Saints Church attack in KP and the attack on the Karachi Central jail are being held.

Additionally, the National Crisis Management Cell has warned home departments of all provinces that terrorists could attack some jails to rescue militants who are on death row, the official said.

“Security is on high alert at Kot Lakhpat Jail, Karachi Central Jail, Adiala Jail and FC Central Jail in Peshawar,” he added.

Snipers have been put on duty on the roofs of Faisalabad jail and the security of the central jail is now under the control of Pakistan Army. APC and other military vehicles are deployed around and inside the jail. Rangers and police and elite force personnel have also been deployed in the jail.

Central Jail and Nishtar Hall roads have been closed till 7 am to avoid any untoward incident.

Searches were also carried out at Quetta and Macch jails on Friday.