09 March 2015 :
the federal government has formally lifted the moratorium on death penalty of all the condemned prisoners. Sources claim that the government took this decision in a recent meeting, headed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.“The execution of death sentences may be carried out strictly as per the law and only where all legal options and avenues have been exhausted and mercy petitions under Article 45 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan have been rejected by the president,” says a letter of the Interior Ministry, a copy of which is also available with The News.
Following the 16 December Taliban-perpetrated massacre at a military-run school in Peshawar, the moratorium was partially lifted only for those convicted in terrorism cases and around 20 such prisoners were executed across the country so far.
The latest order has allowed all the provincial governments to execute all those whose mercy petitions had been rejected by the president. The sources claim that the execution of all such prisoners would start in the next couple of weeks. They also claim that around 1,000 such condemned prisoners were being kept in different jails of the country.
(Sources: thenews.com.pk, 07/03/2015)