Army chief signs death warrants of 13 terrorists

The convicts were found guilty of involvement in several terrorist attacks

ISLAMABAD: Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Friday signed death warrants of another 13 ‘hardcore terrorists’ who were found guilty of being behind a series of terrorist attacks, including those on Charsadda’s Bacha Khan University, Rawalpindi’s Parade Lane Mosque and the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad.

The death warrants signed by Gen Qamar are his first since he assumed command of the army on November 29 and came on a day when the country was observing the second anniversary of the Peshawar Army Public School attack.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement that those who were handed the  death penalty were involved in heinous offences related to terrorism, including killing and slaughtering of innocent civilians and officials of law enforcement agencies and armed forces of Pakistan.



“These terrorists also include those who planned and executed attacks on Bacha Khan University Charsadda, Parade Lane Mosque Rawalpindi, Marriott Hotel Islamabad, Office of World Vision NGO in Mansehra and an educational institution at Nawagai Buner,” the military’s media wing added.

On the whole, they were involved in killing 325 people and in causing injuries to 366 others. Firearms and explosives were also recovered from their possession. These convicts were tried by military courts, the ISPR said.

Those who were handed down death sentence are identified as Latifullah Mehsud, Arafat, Wahid Ali, Abdul Rehman, Mian Said Raheem, Noor Muhammad, Sher Ali, Syed Qasim Shah, Muhammad Usman, Muhammad Riaz, Noorullah, Gul Zarin and Akbar Ali.

Unlike the previous announcements about military courts’ verdicts, the ISPR this time specifically did not identify convicts’ affiliation with any militant group. Instead it said all convicts were members of a proscribed organisation.

According to ISPR, Latif Ullah Mehsud, Abdul Rehman,  Sher Ali and Noor Muhammad were involved in killing of innocent civilians and attacking law enforcement agencies of Pakistan,

The charge-sheet against Arafat includes attacking Marriott Hotel Islamabad and Parade Lane Mosque Rawalpindi, which resulted in death of 110 people. Wahid Ali, Akbar Ali, Muhammad Riaz and Noorullah were convicted for being behind Bacha Khan University Charsadda attack.  Mian Said Raheem was involved in killing of 15 civilians

Syed Qasim Shah was involved in attacking Office of World Vision NGO, which resulted in death of six employees of said NGO.

Muhammad Waqar Faisal was given the death sentence for the killing of police constable Asad Abbas and in injuring a police constable and two civilians.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2016.