ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The European Union (EU) has said that it remains opposed to death penalty in all circumstances, and expressed hope that moratorium will be re-established in Pakistan.
“We believe that the death penalty is not an effective tool in the fight against terrorism,” the EU envoy to Pakistan Lars-Gunnar Wigemark said in a statement.
The EU envoy said that the EU delegation regrets the decision of the Pakistani government to lift the moratorium on executions which had been in place since 2008.
On December 17, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted moratorium on death penalty for those convicted for terrorism a day after the deadly attack on army public school in Peshawar that left 150 persons mostly children killed.
Since the ban was lifted on capital punishment, six death-row convicts have been hanged till death in Faisalabad district jail after they were found guilty in courts of carrying out terror attacks.
A senior government official told a foreign news agency on Monday that around 500 terror convicts will be hanged till death in various jails across Pakistan in coming weeks.
“Interior ministry has finalised the cases of 500 convicts who have exhausted all the appeals, their mercy petitions have been turned down by the president and their executions will take place in coming weeks,” the official said.
