LAHORE - Jail authorities will hang 30 death row prisoners involved in murder and terrorism in next three days across Punjab, said Inspector General of Prisons, Punjab, Mian Farooq Nazir, on Monday.
He said 20 death row inmates will be executed all over the province on Tuesday (today) while eight people would be sent to gallows on Wednesday (tomorrow) and two on Thursday (April 23).
It merits mentioning here that The Nation had published a news story a month back that mercy petitions of around 400 condemned prisoners were expected to be rejected by the President of Pakistan and they would then be executed accordingly.
Beleaguered by protracted terrorism, Pakistan lifted a six-year moratorium on executions following Peshawar school attack in which around 150 people, majority of them children, were massacred by Taliban. Initially the hangings were allowed in purely terrorism cases but now the scope has been extended to other crimes of heinous nature.
The police officer said that two executions were being held at Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore on Tuesday (today) wherein two prisoners Allah Rakha and Ghulam Nabi would be hanged. Both of them are involved in murder cases.
Allah Rakha murdered Tufail in Kasur while Ghulam Nabi killed Mukhtiar Ahmad in Mozang area of Lahore. Mercy petitions of both criminals were rejected by President of Pakistan and different courts of the country. Prisoners whose date of execution has been fixed for April 21, (today) include three prisoners in Central Jail Gujranwala, two in Kotlakhpat Jail Lahore, two in Central Jail Sahiwal, two in District Jail Sialkot, three in Central Jail Rawalpindi, three in CentralJjail Faisalabad, one in District Jail Faisalabad, one in Central Jail Multan, one in Central Jail Bahawalpur and one prisoner in Distict Jail Gujrat. The prisoners, whose execution date has been fixed for April 22 (Wednesday), include two prisoners in Central Jail Lahore, three in Central Jail Sahiwal, two in Central Jail Sialkot and one in Central Jail Bahawalpur. Two prisoners would be executed on April 23 (Thursday) with one in Central Jail sahiwal and one in District Jail Sargohda.
Despite severe criticism and opposition from the world community, the official said, the government had decided to expedite executions. In the last two and half months more than 40 convicts have been hanged. There are about 5,600 condemned prisoners in Punjab alone at present.
Their appeals are pending with the President, the Supreme Court, the high courts, the Federal Shariat Court and the GHQ, official statistics revealed.
As per statistics, there were 5,547 male and 44 female condemned prisoners in all four regions of Punjab - Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Multan.
There were 2,080 male and 16 female death row prisoners in jails of Lahore region, which comprises Lahore, Gujranwala, Sahiwal, Kasur, Sheikhupura and Sialkot districts.
Out of these prisoners, the appeals of 1,545 males and 14 females are pending with the Lahore High Court, of 350 male and one female with the Supreme Court, of 175 prisoners pending with the President while one male prisoner’s appeal was pending with the GHQ.
Mercy petitions of nine male and one female prisoner have been rejected but they are not executed as they have filed review petition in the Supreme Court.
In Rawalpindi region, which comprises Rawalpindi, Attock, Gujrat, Jhelum, Mandi Bahauddin and Chakwal districts, there are 1,012 male and 8 female prisoners on death row.
Appeals of 727male and 8 female prisoners are pending in the high court, 188 in the Supreme Court, one in the GHQ, and 79 in the President’s office, while appeals of 17 prisoners were rejected by the President.
Appeals of 1,295 male and 8 female condemned prisoners were pending in Faisalabad region, which comprises Faisalabad, Mianwali, Jhang, Sargodha, Shahpur and Toba Tek Singh districts.
Out of these, appeals of 989 male and 8 female prisoners are pending in the high court, 184 in the Supreme Court, 104 in the President’s office while appeals of 18 were rejected by the President and they have not been hanged so far.
Similarly, 1,160 male and 12 female prisoners are waiting for their fate in Multan region’s jails out of whom the appeals of 908 males and 9 females were in the high court, 152 males and 3 females in the Supreme Court, mercy petition of 90 pending with the President’s office while appeals of 10 condemned prisoners have been rejected by the President.