527 prisoners on death row in Sindh jails

Opponents of capital punishment observe World Day Against the Death Penalty

KARACHI: The death warrants of seven condemned prisoners in Sindh can be issued any time as the President of Pakistan has rejected their mercy petitions.

The total number of prisoners currently on death row in Sindh is 527, out of which 13 have been awarded capital punishment from military courts, said personal staff officer to prisons IG, Shunail Hussain Shah.

Shah added, "The appeals of many prisoners on death row are either pending with the high court, Supreme Court or with the President of Pakistan after they have been awarded the death penalty by trial courts."

Among such prisoners, 122 have been incarcerated at the Central Jail, Karachi, 227 in Hyderabad, 135 in Sukkur while 38 are detained in Larkana, Shah informed. Four women on death row are in Karachi jail while one other woman is in Hyderabad.



According to the prisons department, 18 prisoners have been executed in Hyderabad, Sukkur and Karachi since the moratorium on executions was lifted. The move came in the wake of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan's attack at the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar in December, 2014.

Prominent prisoners on death row in the prisons of Sindh include the murderer of American journalist Daniel Pearl, Omer Saeed Sheikh, Jundullah militant Mohammad Qasim Toori who carried out an attack on the convoy of the Karachi corps commander in June, 2004, and Azhar Ishrat, who was involved in the Safoora bus carnage.

Opposition to death penalty

"Capital punishment is a murder committed by the state and we need to abolish it," remarked Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Vice-Chairperson Asad Iqbal Butt, while talking to The Express Tribune.

According to Butt, human life needs to be respected and for this we need to reconsider our ways to treat criminals. "The government needs to construct healthy society to curb crimes."



"The death sentence could only be awarded for two felonies, murder and treason, before the partition. However, this has swelled to 28 in Pakistan," he maintained.

The 15th World Day Against the Death Penalty was observed on Tuesday. Opponents of the death penalty organised demonstrations, arguing for its abolishment.

The crime rate cannot be lowered through extreme punishments, Butt opined. The 40 counties which have abolished death penalty have lower crime rate than those which still execute criminals, he asserted.

There has been a tenure of around six years in the history of Pakistan when the state had stopped executing the criminals on death row. Former president Asif Ali Zardari had imposed a moratorium on the death penalty in 2008 which was lifted after the attack on APS, Peshawar in 2014.