PM Sharif asks AG to fast-track terror cases

Islamabad, December 22

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today directed Attorney General (AG) 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.

A spokesman of Sharif said 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. — PTI