Thousands of prisoners await their fate as hanging moratorium ends gallowa ISLAMABAD: The federal government is facing a test case following the threats hurled by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) that the execution of its convicted activists would compel the group to wage a ‘bloody war’ against the PML-N government. Some quarters raise the question whether the government would defer the hanging of the convicts. Earlier, in a bid to display its resolve in fighting the ever-growing terrorism and militancy, the PML-N government had already overturned a five-year moratorium on death penalty in June this year. Subsequently, four convicted criminals, including two militants belonging to the radical sectarian group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, are set to be hanged at the Sukkur Jail between August 20 and 22, 2013. Those who are to be sent to the gallows are Attaullah alias Qasim and Mohammad Azam alias Sharif. Both were sentenced to death after being found guilty of killing a Shia doctor Ali Raza Peerani in Karachi in 2001 and the principal of the Jamia Millia Polytechnic Institute, Malir, Zafar Mehdi Zaidi, his driver and peon in 2002. Attaullah alias Qasim, who is considered a close aide of the jailed LJ chief Mohammad Ajmal alias Mohammad Akram Lahori, had escaped from the Karachi Central Prison on November 25, 2002. However, he was re-arrested by the police from Osmania Colony a few days later. Against the backdrop of the reports about the imminent execution of the two LJ militants, the Taliban responded with fury in a pamphlet which was distributed in the tribal regions of North and South Waziristan and was also sent to media outlets. “If the jailed prisoners are executed, it would amount to a declaration of war on the part of the PML-N government”. On his part, a spokesman for the TTP (Punjab) Maulana Asmatullah Muavia said in an August 11 statement that the PML-N government will have to pay a heavy price for the execution of the TTP prisoners. Asmatullah said the TTP had waged a war against those political parties which had become puppets in the hands of the army. Asmatullah further reminded that the PML-N government has already issued death warrants for many of the TTP prisoners in Punjab. “Some elements in the secret agencies are trying to involve the PML-N in this war. But my organisation will exercise restraint,” the TTP spokesman said. Asmatullah Muavia said that the PML-N leadership should keep in mind the fate of the Awami National Party (ANP) which, according to him, had been used by the Pakistan Army against the Taliban. He said the ANP had been left alone and now the army was trying to use another political force (PML-N) against the Taliban. He recalled the death of Taliban leader Waliur Rehman in a drone strike, contending that the motive behind his killing was to sabotage Taliban’s peace talks with the PML-N and other political forces. He alleged that the government had decided to execute TTP prisoners under American pressure, calling upon the federal interior minister to exercise restraint. Asmatullah criticised those elements who, according to him, were in favour of talks with India but opposed negotiations with Taliban. He said the PML-N and the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf should stay away from conspiracies being hatched by pro-establishment and pro-Indian lobbies. It may be recalled that during the five-year tenure of the PPP, not a single civilian was hanged as a matter of policy. The PPP government had executed only one soldier, Mohammad Hussain, in 2008, who was convicted by court martial for killing a fellow soldier. Way back in July 2008, the cabinet of Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani had approved the federal government’s decision to commute the death sentence of 5,000 plus people on the death row, barring habitual criminals guilty of heinous crimes. On the occasion of the birth anniversary of Benazir Bhutto, the prime minister announced that his government would recommend to the Presidency to commute the death sentences of thousands of prisoners to life imprisonment as a birthday tribute to Ms Benazir Bhutto. However, the PML-N government decided against continuing the moratorium, saying the capital punishment was a key to deterring crime as well as militancy. The government’s announcement was criticised by leading human rights groups, which led to a heated debate. There were those who appreciated the government’s move, saying criminals like Mumtaz Qadri, who assassinated Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, should face the hangman’s noose. As a result of the PML-N government’s decision, nearly 7,000 prisoners on death row, who are languishing in jails for the last several years due to non-decision about their fate by the Presidency, will now either be sent to the gallows or face life terms or will be set free. According to a senior official of the Interior Ministry, 5,378 appeals against death penalty are pending before the high courts, while 1,031 others in the Supreme Court. Of the 7,046 prisoners, 4,981 are counting their days in the Punjab, 266 in Sindh, 102 in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa and 29 in Balochistan, whereas 532 mercy petitions are pending with the president. President Asif Zardari had halted the implementation of capital punishment in 78 cases, while appeals of six military personnel are pending with the GHQ. Federal Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid recently told The News: “We have decided to send all the pending cases to the Presidency for quick decisions. The courts are rightly unhappy with dragging foot on hanging the criminals, who have been sentenced and who have exhausted the right of appeal long time ago”. These cases are dumped at the Interior Ministry where they are sent by provincial home departments for decisions. The sources added that the presidential spokesman Faratullah Babar had already stated that President Asif Ali Zardari would not reject any mercy petitions of criminals facing the death penalty as long as he was in office [till September 8, 2013].
Posted on: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 07:18:20 +0000
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