MULTAN: Nine convicted murderers were hanged on Tuesday, bringing the total number of executions to around 250 since the government controversially lifted a moratorium on the death penalty last December.

The latest executions took place in Lahore, Attock, Faisalabad, Sargodha and Bahawalpur in Punjab province.

Read: Resumption of executions

“Three convicts on death row were hanged in Attock, two each in Faisalabad and Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore, and one each in Bahawalpur and Sargodha jails,“ said Chaudhry Arshad Saeed, an adviser to Punjab's chief minister for prison affairs.

Several other officials separately confirmed the hangings.

Pakistan lifted its moratorium on the death penalty in all capital cases on March 10.

Supporters argue that the death penalty is the only effective way to deal with the scourge of militancy in the country.

But critics say the legal system is unjust, with rampant police torture, poor representation for victims and unfair trials.

Initially executions were resumed for terrorism offences only in the wake of a Taliban massacre at an army-run school in Peshawar which had claimed the lives of more than 150 persons, mostly schoolchildren, on December 16, 2014.

The United Nations, the European Union, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called on Pakistan to re-impose its moratorium on the death penalty.