Six prisoners have been hanged since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced last week that a six-year moratorium on the death penalty was being lifted in terror cases.
The decision came amid public outrage over a Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan massacre at an army-run school in Peshawar which killed 150 people, including 134 children.
The EU mission said in a statement it stood by the country in its grief but remained opposed to capital punishment in all circumstances.
"We believe that the death penalty is not an effective tool in the fight against terrorism," it said.
"The EU Delegation regrets the decision of the Government of Pakistan to lift the moratorium on executions ... (and) We hope that the moratorium will be re-established at the earliest."
Officials have said they plan to hang 500 convicts in coming weeks, drawing protest from international human rights campaigners.
Despite the moratorium, which began in 2008, courts continued to pass the death sentence and Amnesty International estimates there are around 8,000 people on death row in the country.
EU officials indicated last year that if Pakistan resumed executions, it could jeopardise a highly prized trade deal with the bloc.
COMMENTS (13)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1716998435-0/Ryan-Reynolds-Hugh-Jackman-(3)1716998435-0-165x106.webp "article")
1730806490-0/New-Project-(2)1730806490-0-270x192.webp "jcp names justice amin ud din khan as constitutional bench head")
1730706072-0/Copy-of-Untitled-(2)1730706072-0-270x192.webp "influence of pop culture on marketing")
it's beyond understanding everyone supports covert & overt operations, bombings, drone strikes and wars, all involving mass murdering of innocents and extrajudicial killings of suspects but when punishment is handed down by exhausting all legal options and procedure everyone UNO, EU, HRCP & amenity starting crying of human rights issues. what happens to human rights during covert & overt operations, bombings, drone strikes and wars??? EU we are in war against terrorism & we will do whatever deem necessary...no need to teach us your dual standard and flawed human rights policies. By the way it's quite interesting UNO, EU, HRCP & amenity don't speak against hundreds of suspects killed by LEAs after Peshawar school attach.
"We believe that the death penalty is not an effective tool in the fight against terrorism"
Read the news below to show how effective your tools are: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/16/belgium-convict-granted-right-to-die
EU has no right to oppose as we are the people who suffer from terrorists and you have nothing to do about this so i would say politely MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS and Try to stop injustice in other matters and many other countries in the whole world.
Very stupid of EU to condemn it at this stage. They may not like it but should have just kept quiet and not said anything. These terrorists have killed thousands and thousands. Not punishing them with death will be infringing the human rights of common citizens who have right to live peacefully.
It is almost funny how the Amnesty International is more concerned with Pakistan lifting the moratorium on death penalties (which is something that the state and its people were in dire need of, given the status quo) than with the inhumane crimes that are being carried out by the IS in countries that it has successfully infiltrated. Look up 'IS war crimes' on any search engine and you will find heaps of articles that talk about the torture that the IS has wreaked upon individuals in Iraq and Syria. Yet Western authorities are tight-lipped about the issue and nobody has highlighted the need to curb this grotesque show of brutality. Why have the proponents of feminism not spoken against the IS-led sexual assault that women are being subjected to? Does that not deserve more attention than the internal matters of our country?
If EU is against death penalty, why did it send its NATO death squad to Afghanistan ? Is killing people in the name of fake wars is any different ? As one reader rightly said, EU should invite all ISIS and Taliban members to Europe and give them nationality and free social security benefits. How come EU utters no t a single word when Saudis behead poor Pakistanis every week?
Helloooooo! You are trading with Bangladesh. They are hanging octagenarians every alternate week.
Sure, so Pakistan should transfer all the prisoners to EU and then EU can do whatever they want with them. Problem solved.
Does EU threat UAE and Saudia and the staes in the USA where detah penlaty is still active? No they dont because they want Pakistan to continue suffer and the human right activits in Pakistan like Asma Jahngir are making big bucks with exploiting EU's stance againist Pakistan. What about death penalty in India? Death penalty is has proved to be crime detterent and must be exercised in Pakistan. At the same time the justice system should be improved to ensure innocent people dont get detah penalty. Does EU actually do anything firm to help the justice system or just threat us with TRADE AGREEMENTS THAT MONEY GOES STRAIGHT TO THE CORROUPT POLITICIANS.
EU should give immigration visas to TTP terrorists and give them all the human rights they want then, else they should just should up.
It should only be lifted for special cases like terrorist who are a threat to national safety. Gov. should deal with them as special cases & not generalise it.
What more we can expect. Then why they say we fight to eliminate terrorism. I guess they want to say "We fight to elevate terrorism". God Bless Pakistan
EU please don't try to influence Pakistan's decisions. We Pakistanis will suffer economic loss if trade is suspended but we will not allow these killers of our children go unpunished.