ISLAMABAD: Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif on Tuesday ratified the death sentences awarded by military courts to the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi Al-Alami’s Balochistan chief and 10 other terrorists belonging to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

In a statement, the military’s public affairs division — the ISPR — announced the confirmation of the death penalties by the army chief and said the 11 terrorists were convicted of involvement in attacks on security forces and intelligence operatives and in sectarian killings.

“They planned and executed a number of attacks on law enforcement agencies and armed forces of Pakistan. They were also involved in destruction of schools and communication infrastructure,” the ISPR said.

With the latest sentencing, the number of terrorists given death sentences has reached 100. At least 25 others have been given life sentences.

A total of 138 individuals have so far been tried. The government had referred cases of over 200 persons accused of committing terrorist acts to the military courts for trial.

The military courts were established last year after the bloodbath at the Army Public School, Peshawar, through a special legislation for two years. At the time of establishment of the courts, it was said that only “jet black terrorists” — a euphemism for hardened terrorists — would be tried by the tribunals.

The most prominent terrorist convicted in the latest batch is Zia-ul-Haq Kashani, the former head of LJ Al-Alami (LJ-A) in Balochistan. He was involved in a suicide attack on a funeral of a police officer, which resulted in deaths of 30 policemen, including Deputy Inspector General Fayyaz Sumbal, and killing of ASI Raza Khan of Balochistan police and Inspector Kamran Nazir of ISI in Quetta.

He was also behind sectarian attacks in Balochistan. He was one of the last leaders of LJ-A in Balochistan and the terrorist group afterwards became Jaish-ul-Islam. The ISPR, however, mentioned him as a TTP militant.

Fazal-i-Rabbi of the Swat chapter of TTP is the other important terrorist to have been awarded the death penalty.

Fazal-i-Rabbi, who initially belonged to the Al-Badar group and also worked for Al Qaeda, carried out terrorist activities for TTP-Swat. He was given death sentence for his role in killing of Maj Abid Majeed and slaughtering of civilians and attacks on the armed forces. Maj Majeed was killed during the Rah-i-Raast operation near Matta, Swat, in May 2009.

The profiles of the other convicted terrorists provided by the ISPR are:

— “Muhammad Sher s/o Zaray. The convict was an active member of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. He was involved in killing of civilians. He was also involved in attacking armed forces of Pakistan which resulted in deaths of and injuries to soldiers. The convict also destroyed a girls’ middle school. He admitted to his offences before the magistrate and the trial court. He was tried on five charges and awarded death sentence.

— “Umer Zada s/o Gul Rehman. The convict was an active member of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. He was involved in attacking armed forces... He was also in possession of explosives. The convict admitted to his offences... He was tried on three charges and awarded death sentence.

— “Latif Ur Rehman s/o Saif Ur Rehman. The convict was an active member of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. He was involved in kidnapping and killing personnel of law enforcement agencies. He was also involved in attacking armed forces... He admitted to his offences... He was tried on five charges and awarded death sentence.

— “Muhammad Adil s/o Muhammad Akbar Jan. The convict was an active member of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. He was involved in kidnapping and slaughtering soldiers of the Frontier Constabulary. He was also involved in destruction of the Matta police station.... The convict admitted to his offences... He was tried on five charges and awarded death sentence.

— “Israr Ahmed s/o Abdul Rahim Jan. The convict was an active member of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. He was involved in attacking armed forces... He was also involved in destruction of a girls’ primary school and a hotel of the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation. The convict admitted to his offences... He was tried on four charges and awarded death sentence.

— “Abdul Majeed s/o Khona Moula. The convict was an active member of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pak­is­tan. He was involved in attacking armed forces... He also destroyed a hotel of the Pakistan Tourism Development Corpora­tion. The convict admitted to his offences... He was tried on three charges and awarded death sentence.

— “Hazrat Ali s/o Fazal-e-Rabi. The convict was an active member of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. He was involved in planting improvised explosive devices and killing of civilians. He was also involved in attacking armed forces of Pakistan. The convict admitted to his offences... He was tried on five charges and awarded death sentence.

— “Mian Said Azam s/o Mian Said Jaffar. The convict was an active member of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. He was involved in attacking armed forces of Pakistan and law enforcement agencies... He was also involved in destruction of girls’ schools. The convict admitted to his offences... He was tried on five charges and awarded death sentence.

— “Qaiser Khan s/o Habib Khan. The convict was an active member of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. He was involved in killing of civilians and destruction of communication infrastructure. The convict admitted to his offences... He was tried on two charges and awarded death sentence.”

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2016