LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has been requested to order the federal government to disclose the details about the prisoners on death row in Pakistan.

The Judicial Activism Panel, a public interest litigation association, stated through a petition saying there were around 8,000 prisoners who are on death row, and due to suspension of death penalty by government in 2008, their executions have not been carried out.

Association chairman Azhar Siddique says it is the right of every citizen to know how many prisoners are languishing in jails whose death sentence has been finalised by the courts and President of Pakistan rejected their mercy appeals.

He also seeks details about the foreigners who have been awarded capital punishment and are waiting for execution.

The petitioner requests the court to ask the government as to why executions of condemned prisoners have been delayed. He says a letter has been sent to interior secretary and respective home secretaries of provincial governments to disclose the required details. However, he says, no response has come up from the respondents.

The petitioner asks the court to direct the respondents to provide the required details in view of Article 19-A of the Constitution.

NOTICE TO SAAD: The Faisalabad election tribunal on Saturday issued a notice to Railways Minister Khwaja Saad Rafiq on an application of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Senior Vice-President Hamid Khan seeking verification of all ballots in NA-125, Lahore, through Nadra.

Hearing the case of alleged rigging in NA-125, at Punjab Election Commissioner’s office, tribunal-member Javed Rasheed Mahboobi admitted the application of Hamid Khan, the runner up candidate from the constituency, for regular hearing.

In this case, Nadra had already submitted its report to the tribunal about verification of five polling stations of the constituency.

On Saturday, counsel for the minister completed his arguments on the report of Nadra.

On the other side, the counsel for the petitioner (Hamid Khan) filed a fresh application asking the tribunal to order Nadra to verify all votes of the constituency as grave discrepancies were found in inspection of five polling stations.

The tribunal adjourned hearing for next week and directed the minister’s counsel to submit his version on the application.

Published in Dawn December 21th , 2014