LAHORE: Pakistan has the largest death row population in the world as the number has swelled up to 8,000, a local media outlet reported on Sunday.
Many of those on death rows have been in jails for decades and over the past five-years, no clear policy over the matter has been adopted by the federal government.
Between 6000-8000 inmates on death row across the country were convicted in murder cases and continue to wait execution with their appeals for clemency rejected.
A total of 332 criminals were executed in 2015 after the government lifted a moratorium on the death penalty in reaction to the Army Public School attack in December, 2014.
In 2016, at least 67 victims were hanged while at least 44 were sent to death in 2017. Most of those were convicted on terrorism charges and cases involving murders.
Poor sanitary conditions and a lack of hygiene causes dozens of deaths in prisons across the country every year.