At least 17 prisoners were executed in Pakistan on Tuesday in an apparent effort to show visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping that the country is serious about improving public safety.
The prisoners were hanged in jails across Pakistan as Xi was in Islamabad to announce for the energy starved and cash-poor country.
In December, Pakistan lifted a six-year moratorium on capital punishment after the Pakistan Taliban slaughtered about 150 teachers and students at an army-run school in Peshawar. But while terrorism threat was initially cited as the reason for lifting the moratorium, Pakistan is now executing prisoners for a host of violent crimes.
Several prisoners executed Tuesday had been convicted of rape while the others committed murders that do not appear to be linked to Islamic militant groups.
Pakistan is now executing prisoners so rapidly several public safety officials said Tuesday they had lost track of how many had been killed since late December. As of late March, however, the Interior Ministry estimated that 61 executions have been carried out since the moratorium was lifted.
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And death row appears to be more active when a foreign dignitary is visiting the capital.
In January, when Secretary State of John F. Kerry made a two-day visit here, Pakistan in one day. Last month, as Pakistan was preparing to the emir of Qatar, Sheik Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Pakistan executed 12 people in one day.
The 17 executions on Tuesday occurred shortly before Xi addressed a joint session of Pakistan’s parliament.
Xi said his visit showed “no one can destroy” the historical ties between the two countries.
On Monday, Xi and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif finalized a deal for massive new Chinese investment in Pakistani highways, energy projects and maritime research.
But the full implementation of that assistance, including a highway Pakistan that will link China to the Arabian Sea, could depend on whether Pakistan can dislodge terror groups from their safe havens here.
For years, Chinese leaders have been urging Pakistan to crack down on militants who they believe have ties to Muslim separatists in northwestern China. There has also been concerns about Pakistan’s ability to safeguard the safety of Chinese engineers working in the country.
In his speech to parliament, however, Xi praised the Pakistan military for its ongoing operation against Islamist extremists in the country’s northwestern tribal areas.
“Pakistan is the front line state which is battling terrorism,” Xi said.
But human rights activists and some Pakistani legal scholars are increasingly alarmed by Pakistan’s push to execute those on death row.
Last week, Pakistan’s Supreme Court blocked the planned executions of six prisoners who had been convicted in newly created military courts. The plaintiffs had argued those sentences had been handed down out of public view and without an opportunity for an appeal.
In late March, Pakistan’s Interior Minister also issued a 30-day reprieve for a prisoner whose scheduled execution generated international outrage. Shafqat Hussain had been convicting of kidnapping a seven-year boy in 2004. His family and lawyers say Hussain was only 14 at the time and had been tortured into making a confession, which he has since retracted.
According to , a London-based organization that is against the death penalty, 8,261 people are on death row in Pakistan, including more than 800 juveniles.
Pakistan’s Express Tribune newspaper reported Tuesday that another 10 executions are scheduled on Wednesday and Thursday.
At its current pace, Pakistan will likely emerge as one of the global leaders in state-sanctioned executions this year.
Based on recent , China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the United States carried out the most executions in 2014. There were 289 reported execution in Iran, 90 in Saudi Arabia, 60 in Iraq and 35 in the United States.
China considers executions to be a state-secret, but Amnesty International said it carried out “thousands” last year.
Shaiq Hussain contributed to this report.
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