RAWALPINDI: A former Pakistan Air Force (PAF) technician convicted by the Field General Court Martial in the Pervez Musharraf attack case is likely to be executed in Central Jail Adiala.

Khalid Mehmood was associated with 310 GC Wing of PAF and belonged to Chak No 372 police station of Dunyapur in the Lodhran district with the present address of Lava, near high school Talagang, Chakwal.

He was awarded death sentence under the Army Act on October 3, 2005, for his involvement in the attack on the former president in Rawalpindi on December 14, 2003.

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He was shifted to Adiala Jail on October 27, 2010.

Besides, eight civilian convicted prisoners on the death row are languishing in the jail.

On the other hand, there are 41 prisoners involved in terrorism-related cases, including the suicide attack on POF Wah, assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and former Punjab governor Salman Taseer, attack on Nato oil tankers in Chakwal and the US consulate in Karachi.

Some of them have already been awarded life imprisonment (25 years in jail) and others are under trial.

Since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted the moratorium on death penalty, legal formalities related to the execution of Mehmood have been completed.

However, preparations for eight other convicted prisoners are under process.

Among the eight prisoners on death row in Adiala jail are Tahir Mehmood, a resident of Hazro tehsil, involved in the Shah-i-Najaf Imambargah attack case in Rawalpindi on February 26, 2002.

He was arrested on July 10, 2002, and convicted by the Anti-Terrorism Court on December 9, 2004.

Eight civilians convicted of terrorism are also on death row

Hafiz Mohammad Naseer, a resident of street 189, Sector G-7/3, and Habibullah of Gilgit-Baltistan, were also involved in the Shah-i-Najaf case and convicted by the ATC on December 9, 2004.

Umer Adeel, who belonged to Faisalabad with a temporary address in Sector I-9/4, Islamabad, was awarded death sentence on March 14, 2011.

He was involved in the attack on the mosque in Parade Lane on September 4, 2007. He was shifted to the jail on July 2, 2008.

Hameedullah, a resident of Waziristan, was involved in the attack on Pakistan Ordnance Factories Wah on August 21, 2008.

He was sentenced to death on January 29, 2011, and shifted to Adiala Jail on September 19, 2008.

Mumtaz Qadri, a Rawalpindi Elite Force personnel, was sentenced to death on October 1, 2011, for assassinating former Punjab governor Salman Taseer.

He is a resident of Muslim Town, Sadiqabad, Rawalpindi.

Mohammad Aslam, a resident of Mohallah Sathiwal, Jhang district, was handed down death sentence on six counts for the assassination of a member of the provincial assembly.

He was shifted to Adiala jail from Lahore on October 27, 2013.

Similarly, Zulfiqar Ali, a resident of Naval Colony, Hub Road, Karachi, is another convicted prisoner languishing in the jail.

He was awarded death sentence for the terrorist attack on the US consulate in Karachi on February 28, 2003. He was shifted to the jail on November 3, 2014.

Mercy appeals of the eight civilians facing the death sentence are lying with the president.

Despite repeated attempts, the jail authorities were not available for comments on the executions.

Published in Dawn December 22th , 2014