Former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf. PHOTO: AFP
A former Pakistan Air Force (PAF) officer convicted of attempting to assassinate former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was hanged on Wednesday, in the latest execution since the prime minister revoked the six-year moratorium on the death penalty in terrorism cases last month following the Peshawar school carnage.
Niaz Muhammad, 37, was executed at 6.30am in the Peshawar Central Jail in accordance with the law and his body was handed over to his family, a senior police official confirmed while talking to The Express Tribune.
With the execution scheduled for Wednesday, Niaz was flown from a Haripur detention facility to the Peshawar Central Jail in a helicopter under a blanket of tight security.
Niaz, a former PAF technician hailing from Swabi district, spent much of his time in the Haripur jail following his conviction by a military court in 2005 for bombing Musharaf’s convoy as it was passing over a bridge in Rawalpindi.
Shortly after the attack, security agencies arrested Niaz along with Adnan Rasheed, Khalid Mehmood, Nawazish Ali, Nasrullah and Karam Din.
Subsequently, they were convicted in a trial that lasted over a year. However, Rasheed managed to escape in a jailbreak from Bannu in 2012.
In 2006, Niaz and his cohorts filed a petition challenging the death sentence before the Lahore High Court but the plea was rejected. Similarly, another appeal filed before the Supreme Court was turned down in September that year.
The former air force officer, like many on death-row benefited from the moratorium on capital punishment for several years until his black warrant was issued following the December 16 Taliban attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar which killed 150 people, a majority of whom were children.
Seven convicts have been hanged since the ban on the death penalty was lifted last month. Of them, six were convicted of attempting to assassinate Musharraf, while one was involved in a 2009 attack on the military headquarters.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2015.
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i would like to clarify one subject to mr riaz ahmed who published this column. I would urge everyone to please write the correct designation of the person who was hanged. He was never an officer of PAF, he was a lower ranker so dont mix an officer with an airmen. All those convicted an being hanged are not officers of PAF. they were airmen/lower rankers so please dont disgrace PAF officers regards.
Has the killer of Salmaan Taseer, Qadri been hanged yet or is he still being showered with rose petels? No proof required here!
@Karachiite: That's an ignorant comment. The ones that have been hanged were convicted by the military courts, and more are on the way that attacked the military. It is the civilian courts that have not done their job. This is why military courts are being sought to deal with the terrorists. Please educated yourself. Now is not the time to make divisive comments as the nation needs to stand united.
And when are we going to hear that anyone of the hanged was among attackers/preparators on innocent Public?
Looks, team Musharaf is really active in retaliation.