PESHAWAR: A former technician of the Pakistan Air Force convicted of making an attempt on the life of former army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf in 2003 was executed at the Peshawar Central Prison on Wednesday morning.

Officials present at the time of the execution said Niaz Mohammad was calm and composed when he was being taken to the gallows.

“Niaz requested his parents to impart education to his children and forgive him if he ever hurt their sentiments,” an official said, adding that the convict had also sought forgiveness from the public at large as well as prayers for him.

Johar Ijaz, a judicial magistrate, supervised the execution. Personnel of police, Elite Force and army were deployed in and around the colonial-era prison.

The last execution at the Peshawar jail was carried out on June 6, 2006, when Mawas Khan of Peshawar’s Sufaid Sung area was hanged.

According to sources, a brother, wife and three children of Niaz were allowed to meet him before the execution.

His body was taken to his native village in Swabi an Edhi ambulance.

SEVEN HANGINGS: So far seven convicts have been hanged since the lifting of a moratorium on death penalty by the government after the Peshawar school carnage. Six of them were convicted in cases related to attacks on Pervez Musharraf.

In the first attempt on the life of the former president, which took place near Jhanda Chichi bridge in Rawalpindi on Dec 14, 2003, Niaz Mohammad, another former PAF junior technician Adnan Rashid, who later escaped during the 2012 Bannu jailbreak, former chief technician Khalid Mehmood, former senior technician Karam Din and former corporal Nawazish were sentenced to death by the Field General Court Martial at the PAF Base Chaklala on Oct 3, 2005. The sixth, Nasrullah, also a junior technician, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Their appeals were rejected in Feb 2006 by a court of appeal under the Pakistan Air Force Act. Later on March 28, 2006, the Lahore High Court dismissed their petitions.

A Supreme Court bench headed by then Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had on Sept 25, 2006, rejected their appeals against the high court verdict. The apex court also dismissed the convicts’ review petitions in 2011.

Abdul Islam Siddiqui, an army soldier who was separately tried in the same case, was executed on Aug 20, 2005, after his conviction by a court martial.

Muqadam Khan adds from Swabi: Niaz Mohammad was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard in Swabi on Wednesday. His funeral was attended by his relatives and a large number of people. Media personnel were not allowed to make videos or take photographs of the funeral.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2015