ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The number of death row prisoners (convicts ) across Pakistan has increased as according to a latest report, 4,993 prisoners including 40 women are awaiting execution in various jails across the Country.
Sources said that 4,193 prisoners are languishing in various jails across the Punjab province on death row for committing heinous crimes.
Likewise they added that 524 inmates are imprisoned in Sindh jails facing death sentence while there are 204 death row prisoners in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa jail and 72 in Balochistan jails.
Sources further said that a total of 1,117 foreigners are also imprisoned in Pakistani jails for various crimes.
However, according to Justice Project Pakistan (JPP); a Lahore-based non-profit human rights law firm working for prisoners’ rights; the number of people on death row in Pakistan is as high as 8,200.
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan had imposed a moratorium on executions in 2008 but following Peshawar’s army public school attack occurred on December 16, 2014, the ban was lifted for terrorism-related cases.
Since December 2014 till now, according to JPP, as many as 485 prisoners have been hanged to death in Pakistan with Punjab as the major executioner, ranking the Country as the ‘5th most prolific executioner’ in the World following China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
