RAWALPINDI: Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on Sunday confirmed the death sentence awarded to 15 hardcore terrorists.

The terrorists were involved in heinous offences related to terrorism, i.e. attacking personnel of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies, abetting suicide bombers in an assault on Christian colony near Peshawar, destruction of educational institutions and killing of civilians, said a press release issued here by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

On the whole, their terrorist activities resulted in death of 34 people, including 21 personnel of the armed forces, nine of the Frontier Constabu­lary, two police officials and two civilians. Nineteen others were injured in those activities.

ISPR says execution of 254 convicts awaits completion of legal process in higher courts

Arms and explosives were recovered from their possession.

The convicts were members of proscribed organisations. They were tried by special military courts and they had confessed to the offences before the judicial magistrate in their statements during the trial.

Besides, 20 convicts were awarded imprisonment. Their names and details of each case are as under: Hameedur Rehman was involved in an attack on law enforcement agencies and armed forces, which resulted in death of Maj Gen Sanaullah Khan, Lt Col Tauseef Ahmed, Naib Subedar Muhammad Aslam and 18 soldiers.

Said Ali was involved in attacks, which resulted in death of a civilian Shah Nazar, Naib Subedar Mohammad Hanif, Havildars Mohammad Naseer and Mohammad Qayyum Ahmad along with two soldiers and injuries to another eight soldiers. He was found in possession of explosives.

Ibrar abetted suicide bombers in attacking Christian Colony near Peshawar by planning and providing weapons and suicide jackets and transportation to the attackers. A civilian, Samuel Sardar, lost his life and three other civilians were injured in that incident. The convict was also found in possession of explosives.

Other convicts were identified as Fida Hussain, Razaullah, Rahimullah, Umar Zada, Amjad Ali, Abdur Rahman, Ghulam Rahim, Mohammad Khan, Rahimullah, Rashid Iqbal, Mohammad Ghaffar and Rehman Ali.

They were involved in attacks on law enforcement agencies personnel, which left Assistant Sub Inspector Noor Zaman, Naib Subedar Hussain Faraz and four soldiers dead. Five ­others were injured.

The convicts were also involved in destruction of government educational institutions in Swat and they were found in possession of fire-arms and explosives.

All these convicts admitted to their offences before the judicial magistrate and also while making statements during trials.

Out of 310 terrorists who have been sentenced to death since the establishment of military courts, 56 terrorists have been executed so far after the completion of due legal process beyond military courts decisions, which included their appeal in superior civil courts and rejection of their mercy petition both by the chief of army staff and the president of Pakistan, according to the data released by the ISPR.

While 56 terrorists have been executed so far, the execution of death sentence of the remaining 254 terrorists is pending completion of legal process in the higher courts.

In all, cases against 717 suspected terrorists were sent to military courts since their establishment. Of them, 546 cases have been finalised till date. According to the ISPR, out of the 546 finalised cases, 310 terrorists were awarded death penalty, while 234 were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of varied durations ranging from life to minimum five years. Two accused were acquitted.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2018