Amnesty slams Pak executions but activists say 'only dead Taliban are good Taliban’

Even as Pakistan has reinstated death penalty for terror convicts in wake of the deadly Peshawar school massacre, the public chorus in support of capital punishment seems to be growing louder with activists demanding that the terrorists be hanged in public.

Amnesty slams Pak executions but activists say 'only dead Taliban are good Taliban’

Karachi: Even as Pakistan has reinstated death penalty for terror convicts in wake of the deadly Peshawar school massacre, the public chorus in support of capital punishment seems to be growing louder with activists demanding that the terrorists be hanged in public.

Ever since the Pakistani government lifted the moratorium on capital punishment in terror cases, six terror convicts have been executed after President Mamnoon Hussain turned down their mercy pleas.

However, the civil society groups in Pakistan have raised their pitch and demanded more executions of terrorists and that too in public, said reports in local Pakistani media.

Karachi Press Club on Monday saw a crowd of protesters flashing candles and anti-Taliban placards, that had slogans like “Crush Taliban Save Pakistan”, “Only Dead Taliban are good Taliban”, “A devil is a devil, it's not good or bad”.

The protesters that came out in support of capital punishment, sought to justify the executions as “perfect” for terrorists as against the opinion of rights bodies like the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which have criticized the Pakistani government's move of reinstating the death penalty, reported Pakistantoday.com.

“Tell HRW and AI to come and live in Pakistan,” one of the protesters told Pakistan Today.

The objection against executions by rights bodies comes as an AFP report cited Pakistan officials as saying that some 500 convicts would be executed in coming weeks as their mercy petitions have been rejected by the President.

Amnesty International has termed the move as "deeply disturbing" and "regressive'

The protesters at the Press Club also demanded hanging of Maulana Abdul Aziz, popularly known as “Mullah Burqa” as he allegedly justified the heinous Peshawar school children massacre after the government lifted a moratorium on

According to reports, in one of his recent sermons on December 19, Mullah Burqa said that the attack on school was a justified act of retaliation by the Taliban.

Enraged by the cleric's blatant remark, Pakistani civil society groups have called for his execution as well.

The pro-Taliban cleric is known as Mullah Burqa as he is notorious for having fled Red Mosque military raid in 2007 in a burqa. However, later he was caught and paraded through the capital on television live. 

Pakistan's lifting of ban on death penalty in terror cases came after more than 140 children were massacred in Talibab suicide attack on Peshawar's Army Public school.

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