The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday overturned the death sentence awarded to a murder convict by a Pakpattan trial court in 2006, converting the sentence into life imprisonment.

The trial court had handed Ghulam Mustafa a death sentence over a decade ago for murdering his paternal uncle and the uncle's five children.

The decision had previously been upheld by the trial court and high court before it was referred to the SC.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, overturned the high court's decision today, saying that there were no witnesses to the murder, and that neither robbery nor rivalry appeared to be the motives behind the crime.

The court said that as the motive remains a mystery, it would err on the side of caution.

Justice Dost Muhammad observed that although provinces spend millions on prosecution, it remains inefficient.

"In countries like Israel, even the prime minister comes under fire if the prosecution writes even half a page against him," Justice Dost Muhammad said referring to a 2012 case where former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert was handed a $19,000 fine and a suspended jail sentence for being guilty of breach of trust in a corruption case.

Justice Dost Muhammad lamented that those who are assigned responsibilities do not perform their duties.

He illustrated the point by alluding to former military dictator Ziaul Haq. "Some here created fasaad years ago, while others had to undertake operations against fasaad to get rid of the menace many years on," he said in an apparent reference to counter-terror Operation Raddul Fasaad.

"We must stop playing with human lives," he added.