Sharif asks AG to fast-track terror cases

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today directed Attorney General to fast-track cases related to terrorism after courts granted stay orders against the execution of seven terrorists.
The directive to Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt was issued as the Lahore High Court and Sind High Court stayed the hanging of seven terrorists after the government lifted a ban on the death penalty following the Peshawar school massacre in which 148 people, mostly children, were killed.
A spokesman of Sharif said that after the Prime Minister's directives, the government's legal team would file review petitions against stay orders so that trials could be completed at the earliest.

"We are committed to eliminating terrorism at any cost. No mercy would be accorded to those who have killed our youth, citizens and children," a federal government spokesman said.
The Prime Minister also directed legal officials to ensure fast-track prosecution of terrorists and vacate stay orders issued against their death sentences.
The decision was taken after the Lahore High Court's (LHC) Rawalpindi bench today stayed the convictions of five terrorists who were handed the death penalty for involvement in an attack on an army camp in Gujrat in 2012.

The stay order came over a petition filed by the counsel of one of the convicted terrorists, which was heard by Justice Arshad Mahmood Tabassum.

Advocate Laiq Khan Swati told the court that the death row prisoner, Ahsan Azim, was not provided with any information pertaining to the case including the charge sheet as well as the summary of evidence and trial proceedings despite requests submitted earlier.
He added that Azim's family members were suddenly told to hold a last meeting with him as he was going to be hanged soon.
Azim, hailing from Wah Cantt, is currently held at the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore.
Kamran, Umar Nadeem, Azim, Amir Yousuf and Asif Idrees were handed down death sentences by a military court for their involvement in an attack on an army camp in Gujrat in 2012 in which at least seven security personnel were killed.

The Sindh High Court also stayed execution of two condemned terrorists after appeals filed by the families of Muhammad Azam and Ataullah alias Abdullah of banned terror organisations for cancellation of their black warrants.