PESHAWAR: Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif has lifted a moratorium on executions in the country, allowing capital punishment for those sentenced to death in terrorism cases.

“The PM has approved the abolishment of the moratorium on the execution of death penalty in terrorism-related cases,” a statement from the PM’s Office said on Wednesday.

He made the announcement at the Multi-Party Conference in Peshawar, convened in the aftermath of the savage Taliban attack on the Army Public School.

According to Amnesty International, there are over 8,000 prisoners on death row in the country. In the past, rights groups such as the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Justice Project Pakistan have called for the moratorium to be maintained.

However, several legal experts have argued that capital punishment is an integral part of the punishments set out in the Pakistan Penal Code and that to do away with it would require rewriting the whole jurisprudential framework.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2014