Sharif lifts moratorium on death penalty post Peshawar school terror attack

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has lifted the moratorium on death penalty in the aftermath of the terror attack that killed 141 people in a school in Peshawar.

While addressing an All Parties Conference (APC) in Peshawar, Sharif said that the moratorium on death penalty, which was imposed under international pressure, has been lifted, reported the Dawn.

Shortly after assuming office, Sharif's government had said that it wanted to reinstate death penalty and had decided to hang four convicts on death row in August last year. However, a temporary stay order was imposed on these executions after Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and other rights groups raised objection.

With 8,000 prisoners sentenced to death, Pakistan has one of the largest numbers of people on death row in the world.

The new move elicited praise because of concerns that its police and courts were too inept to ensure a fair trial for the accused.