RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif has confirmed death sentences awarded, to another nine 'hardcore terrorists'.
The alleged terrorists whose death sentences have been confirmed are Muhammad Ghauri S/O Javed Iqbal, Abdul Qayyum S/O Ameer Muhammad, Muhammad Imran S/O Abdul Manan, Aksan Mehboob S/O Asghar Ali, Adbul Rauf Gujjar S/O Rehmat Ali, Muhammad Hashim S/O Muhammad Abdullah, Sulaman S/O Boneer, Shafqat Farooqi S/O Malik Liaqat Ali and Muhammad Farhan S/O Muhammad Rafique
According to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), they were involved in committing heinous offences relating to terrorism, including attack on Parade Lane Mosque, Inter-Services Intelligence Headquarters, Multan, attacks on Law Enforcement Agencies, kidnapping and killing civilians in Lahore.
Militants had killed as many as thirty seven Namazis during Friday prayers in 2009 in Parade Lane mosque. Those killed included Major General Umer Bilal.
The insurgents had attacked Multan headquarters of the ISI on December 8 2009. The attack had claimed ten lives while dozens were injured.
Banned outfits’ operatives were tried by military courts, which were established unanimously by the Parliament after attack on Army Public School (APS) Peshawar in December 2014. Muhammad Ghauri and Muhammad Imran belonged to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Abdul Qayyum worked for Harkat ul Jehad-e-Islam while five others were affiliated with Sepah-e-Sahaba. Muhammad Ghauri was tried on eight charges while the rest on four charges.
Earlier on December 29, four militants were hanged in the northwestern garrison town of Kohat for assisting in suicide attacks and bombings. All four were sentenced by military court in April 2015.
On December 2, militants involved in attack on the army-run school in Peshawar were hanged. The attack had claimed as many as 130 innocent lives.
It was following the attack on students that Pakistan lifted six-year moratorium on death penalty. According to statistics, Pakistan has executed at least 300 convicts in less than a year.
More than 8,000 convicts are yet to be hanged while hundreds of them have exhausted appeals process.