Govt rejects mercy plea of 17 death row convicts

The decision to remove moratorium on death penalty, after approval from the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has addressed a concern of law enforcers who often complained of hardened terrorists not being hanged.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had removed the moratorium on the death penalty for a brief period in July 2013. But soon afterwards, his government had been sent a reminder by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in a message warning of instigating a ‘bloody war’ if any of its convicted activists were executed.

The 10 death convicts who have filed mercy petitions belong from Punjab, followed by six in Sindh and one from Khyber Pakhtonkhwa.

Sources told that all the aforementioned terrorists were sentenced to death for heinous crimes.