News / Pakistan

Pakistan sentences nine militants to death

Friday, 01 January 2016 11:27 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 01 January 2016 11:28 AM ]

Pakistani army troops patrol a street in Peshawar, December 16, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

Military courts in Pakistan have sentenced at least nine people to death for their involvement in terror-related crimes.

In a statement Friday, Pakistan’s military said that the country’s army chief, General Raheel Sharif, had confirmed the death sentences given by military courts over a series of terror attacks that killed dozens of Shia Muslims and security officials in recent years.

The Pakistani army has described the nine convicts as “hardcore terrorists.”

“Today, (the) Chief of Army Staff confirmed death sentences awarded to another nine hardcore terrorists, who were involved in committing heinous offences relating to terrorism,” the statement read.

Military sources say al-Qaeda operatives, pro-Taliban militants and members of a banned sectarian outfit were among the convicted men. The militants had been involved in subversive activities, including targeted bombings and killings of members of religious communities and security officials across the violence-hit country in recent years.

Pakistan has been facing security challenges since it joined an alliance with the US in the so-called war on terror in 2001.

This file photo shows Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif (C) chatting with an injured student from an army-run school in Peshawar. (Photo by AFP)

Thousands of people have been killed over the past decade as a result of a surge in violence in the country, with many of them having been members of the Shia community, which makes up almost one-third of the country’s population of 200 million.

The country’s Shia leaders have called on the Islamabad government to bring to justice those behind the ongoing bloodshed and targeted killings. International organizations and regional countries have also expressed concern over the killing of Shia Muslims across the South Asian state.

The fight against militancy gained renewed impetus following a massacre at a school in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar in mid December 2014. On December 16, 2014, a group of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants mounted an attack against Peshawar’s Army School, where more than 150 people, mostly children, were massacred.

Following the Peshawar attack, Pakistan lifted a moratorium on the death penalty that had been in place for about six years. Since then, the Pakistani government has carried out over 300 executions.

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