PM Nawaz advises President to reject mercy petitions of APS convicts

The military courts have awarded death sentence to four suspects of the Taliban attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in December 2014.

The December school attack is seen as having hardened Pakistan’s resolve to fight militants along its lawless border with Afghanistan. The militants were arrested for facilitating the massacre.

He was addressing a Russian delegation led by Co-Chairman of the Russian-Pakistani Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Trade and Scientific Cooperation Victor P. Ivanove in Islamabad on Thursday.

According to a summary the prime minister has said that APS attack was an act of terrorism and those responsible for this must not be spared.

He said the brutal and merciless killing of the children “convinced us that the perpetrators of such crimes do not deserve any mercy”. The Prime Minister said that Pakistan has taken a firm stance on terrorism and extremism to ensure a peaceful, stable and investor friendly environment.

“The establishment of military courts through these amendments has enabled us to bring the perpetrators of most heinous crimes to justice in a short span of time”, PM Nawaz said. He said the death sentence awarded to the four terrorists, in fact, was the will of the entire nation.

The primer has also said that by rejecting the mercy petitions, the president would be “honoring the promise made to the families” of the dead children.

The statement added that convicts were given a fair trial by following all legal formalities and offering/ providing them legal aid and defence counsels.

This handout photograph released by Pakistan’s Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) office on January 12, 2015, shows Pakistani Army chief Raheel Sharif (R) speaking with students at the Army Public School after it was reopened following an attack there by Taliban militants in Peshawar.