To the gallows: Two prisoners shifted to Karachi for execution

KARACHI:

Two prisoners who are scheduled to be executed on February 3 were shifted from Sukkur Jail to Karachi Central Prison via helicopter on Saturday.

Karachi jail superintendent Kazi Nazeer confirmed to The Express Tribune that Attaullah alias Qasim and Muhammad Azam alias Sharif, members of the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, had been transferred for their execution on Tuesday.

The two prisoners had been transferred to Sukkur Jail last year because jail officials feared that the prison might be attacked in a bid to free them along with other militants.

Since the initiation of executions in Karachi, the prison, which is being guarded by the army, Rangers, Frontier Constabulary and police, has been put on high alert. A bomb-proof wall is also being constructed to avert militant attacks. With the arrival of Attaullah and Azam, security has been tightened further.

According to jail officials, the two prisoners are being kept in separate cells in isolation from the other prisoners.

Attaullah and Azam were sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court in 2004 for murdering Dr Ali Raza Pirani in the Soldier Bazaar area on sectarian grounds in 2001. They were arrested within the jurisdiction of the DHA police station in 2002.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2015.