Govt directs provinces to move swiftly on executions

Letter instructs provinces to carry out executions 'strictly as per law' and only when legal options were exhausted

ISLAMABAD: The government has written to all provincial home departments to resume execution of death sentences quickly, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Joint Secretary Law Abdul Sattar Khokhar, in immediate instructions, wrote to all provincial home departments that “the execution of death sentences may be carried out strictly as per law and only where all legal options and avenues have been exhausted and mercy petitions under Article 45 of the Constitutions of Islamic Republic of Pakistan have been rejected by the President.”

A copy of this letter was sent to Chief Secretary Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan and Chief Secretary State and Frontier Regions.

More than 8,000 prisoners are on death row, mercy petitions of most of whom have already been rejected by the President.

Below is an image of copy of the letter that The Express Tribune has acquired.