Islamabad: A Pakistani provincial high court on Monday stayed the impending execution of five death row prisoners till further orders.
The five — Kamran, Umar Nadeem, Ahsan Azim, Amir Yousuf and Asif Idrees — were sentenced to death by a military court over an attack on an army camp in 2012 that left several soldiers dead.
The Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court of Punjab province passed the stay order while hearing a petition filed by one of the convicts through a lawyer. The five were to be executed on Monday in Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore.
The lawyer told Justice Arshad Mahmoud Tabassum who heard the petition that his client Ahsan Azim was not provided with any information pertaining to the case including the chargesheet as well as the summary of evidence and trial proceedings.
The government revoked a six-year moratorium on executions after the December 16 massacre of 135 children by Taliban militants at an army-run school in northwestern city of Peshawar.
Subsequently six death row prisoners were executed at Faisalabad jail in Punjab.
A government spokesman said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has directed the relevant authorities to pursue the cases of terrorism on fast-track basis and make all-out efforts for vacation of stay orders against executions.
The prime minister chaired a meeting in Islamabad to review the anti-terrorism strategy.
A parliamentary committee headed by the interior minister, which was set up after the Peshawar tragedy to formulate a national plan of action to eliminate terrorism, is expected to come up with the plan during the current week.
The military has already stepped up ground and air offensive against terrorists in the north western tribal region.
