ISLAMABAD, 18 DEC (DNA) – President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have expressed the resolve to make Pakistan a cradle of peace purging it of terrorism. The commitment was expressed at a meeting between them in Islamabad on Thursday.
The prime minister briefed the president on the Peshawar tragedy, the proceedings of All Parties’ Conference (APC), and the strategy being adopted to deal with terrorists.
The President and the Prime Minister agreed to take a decisive action against the terrorists to defeat them completely. They said that the people of the country, particularly the children, cannot be left on the mercy of terrorists.
The Prime Minister told the President that nation is united and a complete consensus emerged against terrorism at the APC in Peshawar. Expressing satisfaction over a united stance on this serious challenge, the president said this consensus is reflection of the nation’s strong determination against the menace, which will provide strength to the security forces to combat it effectively.
The two leaders expressed solidarity with the victims of the tragedy and conveyed the nation’s sympathies to them. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was also present on the occasion.
Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali also met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and discussed the law and order situation in the country. Nisar discussed the future line of action of the Interior Ministry and execution of the death penalties with the Prime Minister.
In the backdrop of deadly terrorist attack on the Army Public School Peshawar that claimed 144 lives most of them students, the prime minister lifted moratorium on the execution of death sentence in terrorism cases.
Hanging remains on the Pakistani statute books and judges continue to pass the death sentence, but a de facto moratorium on executions has been in place since 2008. Rights campaign group Amnesty International estimates that Pakistan has
more than 8,000 prisoners on death row, most of whom have exhausted the appeals process.
In June last year Sharif’s newly elected government removed the ban in a bid to crack down on criminals and militants. But two weeks later it announced a further stay of executions after an outcry from rights groups and under the pressure of the European Union, which last year said that resumption of executions in Pakistan could jeopardise a highly prized trade deal with the bloc. DNA
