Amnesty International says Pakistan’s plans to execute hundreds of people are "deeply disturbing" and would do nothing to protect civilians from the conflict with the Taliban.
The London-based group’s deputy Asia-Pacific director, David Griffiths, said on December 22, “Not only would executing death row prisoners do nothing to protect civilians caught up in this conflict, it could ratchet up the already very high level of violence in Pakistan.”
The statement comes after Pakistan said it would begin executing nearly 500 prisoners convicted on terrorism-related charges “within the next couple of weeks.”
The announcement came after the government lifted a moratorium on the death penalty in terrorism-related cases and the execution of six people in the wake of a December 16 Taliban attack which killed 132 children and nine staff at a military-run school in the northwestern city of Peshawar.