SHC suspends executions of two death convicts

A division bench of SHC while suspending the execution of two members of outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ordered implementation of the law related to the execution of death convicts.

The court ordered the authorities to seek re-issuance of black warrants from the court and execute the convicts after seven days of the issuance of the warrants.

The bench criticized the ambiguity in provincial authorities stance over the plea about transfer of the prisoners to Central Jail Karachi from Sukkur. The home department agreed over the plea while the I.G. Sindh expressed reservations over the matter.

Justice Ahmed Ali Shaikh in his remarks called the government behavior equal to the contempt of the court.

The accused had filed petition in the court with the argument that their appeal against the sentence was under hearing in the Supreme Court and sought stay order against the execution.

The bench ordered that the stay order should be sought from the Supreme Court if the plea is being heard there.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after a terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar last Tuesday lifted a six-year moratorium over execution of death sentence in Pakistan.  The ban was imposed in year 2008 on the demand of the rights groups and the European Union.