- Zubair Ahmed, Rasheed Qureshi, Ghulam Sarwar Bhatti and Russian citizen Akhlaque Ahmed alias Roosi hanged at Faisalabad District Jail amid heightened security measures in city
- Four death row prisoners expected to be hanged at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail today
Four death-row prisoners, who were convicted for involvement in an attack on former military ruler Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf, were executed at the Faisalabad District Jail on Sunday.
Civilians Zubair Ahmed, Rasheed Qureshi, Ghulam Sarwar Bhatti and Russian citizen Akhlaque Ahmed alias Roosi were shifted from Faisalabad Central jail to the death cell at the district jail late on Saturday. The prisoners had to be shifted to the district jail under tight security because the lever which is used to open the trapdoor to carryout hangings was not present in the Central Jjail.
Family members of the death-row prisoners were allowed to meet the convicts for the last time prior to the hanging.
Security was tightened in the city to prevent any untoward incident. Additional contingents of security personnel were deployed while containers and barricades were placed on the routes leading to the district jail.
Meanwhile, preparations are underway in Lahore for the execution of four death row prisoners in Kot Lakhpat Central Jail. The executions are expected to be carried out today (Monday). All routes leading to the jail have been sealed with the deployment of military personnel and installation of cellphone jammers around the jail premises.
In Sukkur, authorities called in the relatives of two condemned terrorists, belonging to the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who had been sentenced to death 10 years ago in a sectarian killing case, to hold a final meeting on Monday (today).
An anti-terrorism court on Friday had issued black warrants for Attaullah alias Qasim and Mohammad Azam alias Sharif who had been given death sentence by an anti-terrorism court in July 2004 for killing Dr Ali Raza Peerani on sectarian grounds in June 2001 in the Soldier Bazaar area.
Both terrorists were arrested from Karachi. Tuesday has been decided the day of their execution.
Earlier on Friday, two former military men were executed in the Faisalabad district jail. Aqeel alias Dr Usman a former soldier of the army’s medical corps, was executed in relation to an attack on the headquarters of the Pakistan Army in 2009 in Rawalpindi. Arshad Mehmood, who was a trooper and was also hanged, was among five convicts who were handed out the death sentence for their role in an al Qaeda-inspired assassination attempt on Musharraf’s life in late 2003.
The hangings on Friday were the first death sentences carried out after the government ended a six-year moratorium on executions on Wednesday, in response to the Peshawar tragedy.
In response, Taliban groups released messages vowing revenge for the deaths of their comrades-in-arms.