June 15, 2015: A double murder convict was hanged in Multan’s central jail, days ahead of a one-month moratorium imposed on executions in the fasting month of Ramadan.
Khizar Hayat was convicted of murdering his father-in-law and brother-in-law over a dispute in 1997.
Since the de facto ban on capital punishment ended on 17 December 2014, at least 162 people, including twenty-five convicted terrorists, have been executed across the country.
It is a tradition that nobody is executed in the (Islamic) fasting month of Ramadan and an official in the federal interior ministry confirmed that a notification had been issued to halt executions during Ramadan, which in 2015 starts on 18 June and will continue for 30 days until 17 July.
Sources: khybernews.tv, HOC, June 15, 2015
Pakistan imposes moratorium on executions during Ramadan
Pakistan has imposed a ban on executions during the holy month of Ramadan after hanging about 150 convicts in nearly six months since it lifted the moratorium on death penalty.
The Interior Ministry issued an order on Saturday asking all provincial governments not to carry out any executions in the Muslim month of fasting.
Ramadan is expected to start from Thursday or Friday depending on the sighting of the moon of the next Islamic lunar month.
Muslims all over the world observe fast during the holy month and refrain from food, drinks, smoking and sex from dawn to dusk as given in Islamic injunctions.
Pakistan had lifted the moratorium on death penalty after about six years in December after the terrorist attack at the Army Public School in Peshawar, which claimed 150 lives, mostly children.
The United Nations, the European Union, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and various local groups have asked government to stop the executions.
But government has refused to halt them, saying it is a deterrence against militancy and other crimes.
Source: Hindustan Times, June 15, 2015
