*LHC seeks reply from authorities on plea for details of death-row convicts
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday sought a detailed reply by January 12 from the federal and provincial governments on an application seeking details of prisoners including foreigners on death-row in jails.
Justice Mehmood Maqbool Bajwa passed the orders on an application filed by Judicial Activism Panel (JAP), a public interest litigation firm, in a pending petition against moratorium on implementation of death penalty.
Earlier, the petitioner’s counsel Azhar Siddique arguing before the court submitted that around 8,000 prisoners were on death-row but, the executions had not been carried out due to moratorium on death penalty by the government in 2008.
He said that it was a right of every citizen to know how many prisoners were languishing in jails whose death sentence had been finalised by the courts and the president rejected their mercy appeals.
He also sought details that how many foreigners had been awarded capital punishment and were waiting for execution of the same. He mentioned that execution of death penalty of foreigners was suspended before 2008 for no reasons and jurisdiction which was a violation of fundamental rights.
He requested the court to ask the government as to why executions of prisoners had been delayed. According to him, a letter had been sent to the federal interior secretary and respective provincial home secretaries to disclose the required details, but he had been unable to get any response.
The petitioner requested the court to direct the respondents to provide the required details in view of Article 19-A of the Constitution. The court after hearing the arguments sought a detailed reply from the federal and provincial governments by January 12, 2015.
