ISLAMABAD: Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif ordered on Monday the execution of four terrorists involved in last year’s Peshawar school attack in which 125 students and 16 school staffers were killed.

“Chief of Army Staff today signed black warrants of four hardcore terrorists involved in Army Public School Peshawar massacre — Maulvi Abdus Salam, son of Shamsi; Hazrat Ali, son of Awal Baz Khan; Mujeebur Rehman alias Ali alias Najeeb Ullah, son of Gulab Jan; and Sabeel alias Yahya, son of Atta Ullah,” the ISPR said in a statement.

The order came as the country prepares to observe the first anniversary of the attack on Dec 16.

The statement did not say when the four would be executed. The black warrants issued by the GHQ usually carry the date for execution.

According to lawyer Inam-ur-Rahim, the convicts can be executed anytime as the legal process has been completed.

The four were among the six terrorists sentenced to death by a military court in August this year for their role in the massacre. Their mercy petitions was rejected by President Mamnoon Hussain last week on the advice of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who said: “The death sentence awarded to the four terrorists, in fact, was the will of the entire nation.”

Two other convicts — Taj Muhammad and Atiq-ur-Rehman — have challenged their conviction in superior courts. Another convict, Kifayatullah, was awarded life imprisonment by the military court.

All the convicts, except one, are members of a little-known Tauhidwal Jihad group.

PROFILES: Maulvi Abdus Salam was a prayer leader at a mosque in a government office near the school. One of the two groups of attackers had stayed a night at his house after arriving from Jamrud a day before the attack. He was also involved in killing two colonels and a civilian director of the National Development Complex.

Hazrat Ali was financier of the APS attack. He was also involved in killing 23 Levies soldiers.

Mujeebur Rehman hosted the attackers at his house in Jamrud. All the six attackers, along with their handlers, stayed at his house for four nights before travelling to Peshawar a day before the attack.

In Peshawar, the attackers had split into two groups – one spent a night at Maulvi Abdus Salam’s house. Mujeeb previously facilitated attacks on a Pakistan Air Force base in Peshawar as well as on law-enforcement personnel.

Sabeel alias Yahya transported the attackers, first to Jamrud, then Peshawar and finally to the APS. He was also found to have been involved in the attack on the PAF base and a police checkpost.

The government lifted the moratorium on executions after the APS attack and so far some 300 convicts have been executed.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2015