RAWALPINDI: Chief Of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif on Tuesday signed the death warrants of four “hardcore terrorists” nearly one week after four men were hanged through a military court order for involvement in the Peshawar Army Public School attack.
An ISPR statement issued Tuesday evening said the men were convicted for “slaughtering, suicide bombing, abduction for ransom and funding terrorists organisations”.
The ISPR statement said four men, namely Noor Saeed alias Hafiz Sahib, Murad Khan, Inayatullah, Khakay Khan and Israruddin alias Abu Lais will be hanged, but did not provide further details on the cases against them.
Last week, the warrants of Maulvi Abdus Salam, Hazrat Ali, Mujeebur Rehman and Sabeel alias Yahya were signed by the army chief, and they were hanged days later in a Kohat jail. The men were convicted by a military court and hanged just days ahead of the first anniversary of the APS attack on December 16.
In the wake of the APS carnage, military courts were set up for trying terrorists under amendments made to the Constitution and the Army Act.
Political parties had unanimously agreed over the issue of setting up military courts to tackle terrorism cases in the country following the gruesome attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in December 2014, following which the Parliament passed the 21st constitutional amendment in Jan 2015 to set up the said courts.
President Mamnoon Hussain had also promulgated an ordinance further revising the recently amended Army Act to ostensibly aid the functioning of military courts by allowing for trials in camera, i.e without the presence of the public or the media, and over video link if necessary.
The Supreme Court in a majority ruling upheld the establishment of military courts in Pakistan.
Petitions challenging the 21st amendment were dismissed in August this year in a majority 11-6 vote of the 17-member SC bench. Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk and Justice Dost Muhammad announced the verdict.
In a 14-3 majority vote, petitions challenging the 18th amendment were also dismissed by the bench. Judges provided seven opinions and two additional notes on the ruling.