ISLAMABAD: Abdul Basit, a paraplegic who developed tubercular (TB) meningitis while on death row, and was convicted of murder in 2009, is scheduled for execution tomorrow (Nov 25).

Amnesty International claims it has recorded 299 executions since the death penalty was controversially reinstated following a Taliban mass killing at a school in Peshawar last year that was the country's deadliest ever extremist attack.

Basit's hanging has already been postponed several times after rights groups raised concerns about how a wheelchair-bound man would mount the scaffold.

Read: HRCP writes to PM to stay execution

Amnesty International slammed Islamabad Tuesday for “shamefully sealing its place among the world's worst executioners.”

Forty-five people were executed in October alone, Amnesty said, making it the deadliest month since the moratorium was lifted.

No official figures are available.

“Pakistan's ongoing zeal for executions is an affront to human rights and the global trend against the death penalty,” David Griffiths, the group's South Asia research director, said in the statement.

“Even if the authorities stay the execution of Abdul Basit, a man with paraplegia, Pakistan is still executing people at a rate of almost one a day.”

There was no evidence the “relentless” executions have done anything to counter extremism in the country, he added.

Also read: Execution of paralysed death row convict postponed.

The rights group also alleged that many of the executions come after court proceedings that “do not meet international fair trial standards”.

Pakistan ended a six-year moratorium on the death penalty last year as part of a crackdown after Taliban militants gunned down more than 150 people, most of them children, at an army-run school in Peshawar.

The attack shocked and outraged a country already scarred by nearly a decade of extremism.

Hangings were initially reinstated only for those convicted of terrorism, but in March they were extended to all capital offences.

The Human Right Commission of Pakistan puts the number of executions in the country since the lifting of moratorium at 295 . Out of the total 288 people were executed this year, according to HRCP.

Opinion

Editorial

Military option
Updated 21 Nov, 2024

Military option

While restoring peace is essential, addressing Balochistan’s socioeconomic deprivation is equally important.
HIV/AIDS disaster
21 Nov, 2024

HIV/AIDS disaster

A TORTUROUS sense of déjà vu is attached to the latest health fiasco at Multan’s Nishtar Hospital. The largest...
Dubious pardon
21 Nov, 2024

Dubious pardon

IT is disturbing how a crime as grave as custodial death has culminated in an out-of-court ‘settlement’. The...
Islamabad protest
Updated 20 Nov, 2024

Islamabad protest

As Nov 24 draws nearer, both the PTI and the Islamabad administration must remain wary and keep within the limits of reason and the law.
PIA uncertainty
20 Nov, 2024

PIA uncertainty

THE failed attempt to privatise the national flag carrier late last month has led to a fierce debate around the...
T20 disappointment
20 Nov, 2024

T20 disappointment

AFTER experiencing the historic high of the One-day International series triumph against Australia, Pakistan came...