Better late than never

• 17 condemned terrorists to walk down the gallows this week
• Orders issued to execute six condemned prisoners in Faisalabad, four each in Lahore and Sukkur, two in Karachi and one in Mardan
• Gen Raheel Sharif signs death warrants for six prisoners, lists of others being prepared for early disposal

The clock has begun ticking on the fate of 17 condemned terrorists, who will be walking the gallows in five jails across the country in the coming hours after the government and military leadership decided to begin the executions of hardened criminals without further delay.

Army Chief General Raheel Sharif kick-started the process by signing the death warrants for six prisoners convicted by army courts.

“COAS today signed death warrants of 6 hardcore terrorists (pending execution) convicted by FGCM in accordance with law,” Director-General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Asim Bajwa said in a tweet.

The Interior Ministry had on Thursday sent a list of 63 prisoners, who were handed death sentences in terror related cases, to the Inspector General Police of all provinces for their execution.

Sources said that the Legal Wing of the Interior Ministry cleared the prisoners’ names for execution after their mercy petitions had already been rejected by then president Pervez Musharraf.

Most of the prisoners cleared for execution of their sentences were involved in high profile terrorist attacks, including the ones on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, the attack on the Naval Centre in Karachi and attack on the Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

Sources said that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had given a go-ahead to all provincial police departments to carry out Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s orders to execute prisoners whose mercy petitions have been rejected. The instructions came after back-to-back meetings between Sharif and Nisar and officials of provincial home departments.

Prime Minister Sharif also discussed the matter with President Mamnoon Hussain.

Sources said that Deputy Secretary Law Ministry Safeer Shah is examining 400 other mercy petitions which were either filed to Musharraf or his successor Asif Ali Zardari between 2007 and 2011. Their status will be clarified by next week, the sources added.

According to figures provided by the government, there are 6,424 death row prisoners in Punjab, 355 in Sindh, 183 in the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP), 79 in Balochistan and 15 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).

As per detail, in Punjab, 4,981 appeals against death sentences are pending in the Lahore High Court (LHC), 15 in the Federal Shariat Court (FSC), 893 in the Supreme Court (SC); in addition three such appeals are also pending at the General Headquarters (GHQ).

Punjab has most prisoners on death row, highest number of pending appeals

The mercy petitions filed before the President are 463 while executions have been stayed in 69 cases.

In Sindh, 266 appeals against the death sentence are pending in the Sindh High Court (SHC), five in the FSC, 48 in the SC, three in GHQ, 27 mercy petitions are lying with the Governor and executions have been stayed in six cases.

The three petitions from Punjab that are lying with the GHQ are separate from the ones from Sindh.

In KP, 102 appeals have been filed in the Peshawar High Court (PHC), 49 in the SC, while 29 mercy petitions have been sent to the governor and execution have been stayed in three cases.

From Balochistan, 29 appeals against conviction are pending in the Balochistan High Court (BHC), one in the FSC, and 41 in the SC. There are also 13 mercy petitions.

Meanwhile, a Punjab Home Department official said that the Interior Ministry had Further, all provincial home departments have been directed by the interior minister to furnish reports of prisoners who were awarded death sentence in terror related cases to the ministry by next Monday.

He also said that the Punjab Home Department has prepared a summary to finalise the rules regarding implementation of death penalties. As per rules, death sentences will be implemented within 14 days after issuance of black warrants instead of the earlier prescribed time of 21 days. The new rules will be implemented after the approval of the chief minister and governor, he added.

17 HANGINGS IN 7 DAYS:

The official source that 17 prisoners will be executed in a week’s time and the first hanging would be carried out in the “next 24 hours”.

“Dr Usman alias Aqeel of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi will most probably be the first one to hang by the neck in Faisalabad,” he said. Dr Usman was convicted for masterminding and carrying out the attacks on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore and the attack on the Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

The official said that six hangings would be carried out in Faisalabad, four in Lahore, four in Sukkur, two in Karachi and one in Mardan jail.

PRISONS ON RED ALERT:

The official also said that intelligence agencies had warned prison officials of possible jailbreaks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab following the end of the moratorium on executions.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced on Wednesday an end to the moratorium on the death penalty in terror-related cases after a Pakistani Taliban massacre at a military-run school killed 148 people, mostly children.

Police sources said that two companies of army troops had been deployed at the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore while security sources said that prisons across the country had been put on red alert.