Peshawar: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today lifted a self-imposed moratorium on death penalty in terror related cases, a day after ruthless Taliban militants massacred at least 132 students and 16 staffers at an army-run school in Peshawar.
Prime Minister Sharif told an All Parties Conference here that the moratorium on death penalty has been lifted. “Yesterday's incident is extremely tragic,” he told the political leaders. “These sacrifices will not go wasted and we all want complete elimination of terrorism from Pakistan.” An official from the Prime Minister's office in Islamabad said that Sharif abolished the moratorium on death penalty in terrorism-related cases.
Later addressing the media here, Sharif said, “We have proposed terror cases should be expedited.” “If terrorists are not punished, then who will be punished?” he quipped.
He said important legal steps will be taken to plug loopholes in the justice system so that militants should not use them to escape punishment.
A de facto moratorium on civilian executions has been in place in Pakistan since 2008.
Sharif had decided to resume moratorium soon after his government took office in June last year but suspended the plan under international pressure.
Pakistan is feared to lose a concessionary trade deal with the EU after resuming hangings. Some 150 countries have abolished the death penalty or no longer carry out executions. According to the interior ministry estimates more than 8,000 death row prisoners are in Pakistan who have already exhausted all options and would be hanged within weeks if the government allowed the executions.
