Military courts award death to six terrorists

RAWALPINDI: The military courts in Pakistan have issued death sentences to six militants on terror charges.
The Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), General Raheel Sharif, on Thursday confirmed the death sentence of the six hardcore terrorists. These terrorists were involved in heinous acts of terrorism, manslaughter, suicide bombings, loss of life and property.
Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa said this in a message on a micro-blogging site. He said the convicted terrorists had the right to appeal in a court of appeal.
These are the first convictions since the military courts were established after a Taliban school massacre on December 16, 2014.The six convicts given death sentences were identified by a senior military official as Noor Saeed, Haider Ali, Murad Khan, Inayatullah, Israruddin and Qari Zahir.
A seventh man, identified as Abbas, was given a life sentence, the official said.No further details were given on their individual cases, or when and where the trials were held.Pakistan lifted a six-year moratorium on the death penalty and announced the establishment of military courts in the case of terror offences in the wake of a Taliban massacre that killed 154 people, mostly schoolchildren, in December.
The government announced a national counter terrorism plan in the wake of the school attack, which also involves outlawing of militant groups, registration of seminaries and a crackdown on hate speech.Parliament has approved the use of the courts for two years, and cases are referred to them by the provincial governments.
Pakistan has carried out 65 executions since lifting the moratorium on the death penalty. It was initially lifted only for those convicted of terrorism offences, but was extended to cover all capital offences in March.
The European Union, the United Nations and human rights campaigners have all urged Pakistan to reinstate the moratorium. Human rights group Amnesty International estimates that Pakistan has more than 8,000 prisoners on death row, most of whom have exhausted the appeals process.