Pak court stops execution of a death row convict

A Pakistani court today ordered the authorities to stop the execution of a death row convict involved in the killing of a soldier in 2000.
Lahore High Court's two-member bench headed by Justice Abdus Sami Khan halted the execution on the petition filed by the counsel of the convict Faiz Ahmad.
Ahmad's counsel Abdul Khaliq told the court that his client's appeal against the death sentence had been pending in the Supreme Court since 2009 and requested to set aside the death warrant.
The court ordered the jail authorities to stop Ahmad's execution and issued a notice to the Punjab government to file a reply on January 5.

Last week, an anti-terrorism court of Lahore had issued Ahmad's death warrant on an application filed by a superintendent of Faisalabad jail where he has been languishing.
The court had earlier set January 14 for Ahmad's execution.

The convict had killed Lance Naik Tariq Mehmood in 2000 at Nankana Sahib, some 80 kilometres from Lahore.
On December 17, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had lifted the moratorium on death penalty after the attack on Peshawar's Army Public School that killed 150 people, mostly children.
So far, seven death row convicts involved in the murder attempt of former military president General Pervez Musharraf have been executed since the six-year-old moratorium was lifted.