KARACHI: The provincial government has approached the Sindh High Court for amendment to its rules to expedite the execution of condemned prisoners in the wake of the prime minister’s decision to lift the moratorium on the death penalty handed down in terror cases after the Peshawar schoolchildren tragedy, it emerged on Thursday.

Informed sources told Dawn that the Sindh government acting on advice from the federal government requested the SHC to amend its rules related to the issuance and implementation of black warrants that appointed time and place for hanging.

A black warrant — commonly known as a death warrant — for the execution of a condemned prisoner is issued by the trial court on a request of the jailer once the mercy petition before the president is rejected after the upholding of the capital punishment by the high court and the country’s apex court.

The sources said that a full court reference was held at the SHC with Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar in the chair on Thursday to discuss the provincial government’s request for fixing of time and date of hanging within one week after the issuance of the black warrant. Earlier, it was fixed between one and three weeks.

They said that the provincial authorities undertook to complete all formalities under the jail rules within three days after the issuance of black warrants.

According to the jail rules, condemned prisoners are given fair time to hold meetings with their family and friends. Besides, they are also entitled to make their will and given due time if they desire to get it officially registered.

The sources said that the full court reference amended the high court rules relating to the implementation of Rule 105 of the Sindh Prisons Rules on the government’s request, directing it to issue a notification to this effect accordingly.

Meanwhile, the chief justice also directed judges to expedite the appeals of the condemned prisoners.

Issues regarding the security of judges and courts were also discussed in the meeting.

In different penitentiaries across the province, 457 convicts are stated to be on death row. Most of them have moved the provincial high court against their conviction, and many appeals are pending disposal before the apex court.

Of the 457 condemned prisoners, 115 were in the Karachi central prison, with appeals of 25 of them pending in the Supreme Court of Pakistan and mercy petitions of nine of them still awaiting presidential decision, according to the IG Prisons Nusrat Mangan.

Over 150 mercy petitions of the condemned prisoners from across the country are stated to be pending disposal before the president.

According to jail authorities, the death cells in the prisons are overcrowded owing to delay in the disposal of appeals of the condemned convicts.

The legal fraternity blame cumbersome procedure of proceeding with the appeals for the delay in the disposal as in every appeal a ‘paper book’ has to be prepared for the perusal of the appellant bench.

The paper book is prepared by the translation branch and the copying branch of the SHC. All documents and exhibits in Urdu and Sindhi are first translated into English by the translating branch, which, according to the lawyers, have a very meagre strength of staff.

There has been no hanging in Sindh since Feb 20, 2008 when a murderer convicted by an antiterrorism court was hanged. He was the 57th prisoner who was hanged inside the Karachi central prison, built by the British in 1891.

Meanwhile, the sources said that the hanging of two convicts belonging to a sectarian outfit was likely in the coming days. They said the two convicts were at present lodged at a jail in the interior of Sindh and they might be shifted to Karachi only a fortnight before their execution.

In 2008, then Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani giving a policy statement in the National Assembly had declared that his government would not execute criminals facing the death penalty.

During the five-year tenure of the Pakistan Peoples Party, not a single civilian was hanged. Only one soldier, in 2012, convicted by a military court, was executed by the authorities.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2014