FAISALABAD, Pakistan: The lone convict in the army’s General Headquarter (GHQ) attack case Aqeel alias Dr Usman and another terrorism convict Arshad Mehmood were hanged in Faisalabad jail on Friday night, first hanging to death after eight years in Pakistan.
Both the terror convicts were executed at 9:00 pm.
Dr Usman was executed in relation to an attack on the GHQ in October 2009 while Arshad Mehmood was executed for an assassination attempt on former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf.
The security was heightened at the central and district prisons in Faisalabad ahead of their executions.
The executions were carried out a day after the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel signed the death warrants of six hardcore terrorists.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted the ban on capital punishment, allowing to hang the sentenced terrorists in jails.
His approval came following the country’s bloodiest ever terror attack which claimed lives of over 130 school children in Peshawar.
On October 10 2009, 10 heavily armed militants wearing suicide vests stormed the GHQ and killed 11 soldiers.
The Pakistan army retaliated and killed 9 attackers while Dr Usman, who was among the attackers and injured in an exchange of fire with the soldiers, was captured. Later, a military court awarded death sentence to Dr Usman in 2011.
