Islamabad: Pakistan’s army chief General Raheel Sharif on Thursday confirmed the death sentences of 12 “hard-core terrorists” convicted by military courts, the military’s public relations wing said.
The convicts were involved in “committing heinous offences relating to terrorism”, which included jailbreak and attacks on armed forces, law enforcement agencies and civilians, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
Eight of the convicts belong to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), two to Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and two to Al Qaida, it said.
In December 2014 Pakistan lifted a seven-year moratorium on executions in response to a deadly Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar in which more than 130 students were killed.
Subsequently, special military courts were also set up through constitutional amendment for speedy trial in serious terrorism cases.
On December 2 last year, four terrorists involved in the Peshawar school massacre were hanged at a civil jail in Kohat. The hangings were the first executions of civilians convicted by the military courts.
Since the lifting of the moratorium more than 300 convicts have been executed in the country, according to Amnesty International The vast majority of them had been convicted of crimes other than terror offences.
