Islamabad:&nbsp;With Pakistan lifting the&nbsp;moratorium on the death sentences, 17 of the 55 convicted&nbsp;terrorists whose mercy petitions have been dismissed will be&nbsp;executed in the next few days, according to media reports.
There are at least 522 criminals sentenced to death in&nbsp;terror and other cases related to serious crimes in the&nbsp;country, including 11 who were convicted by a military court.&nbsp;
Punjab province has the highest number of death row&nbsp;convicts with 465, followed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with 30,&nbsp;Sindh with 14 and Baluchistan with 13, the News reported.
The mercy appeals of 55 death row inmates have been&nbsp;dismissed by the Supreme Court and President Mamnoon Hussain.&nbsp;
Seventeen of them will be executed in the next few days.&nbsp;
"Their death warrants will be issued and their relatives&nbsp;will be called in to have their last meeting with them," the&nbsp;Express Tribune quoted Interior Ministry as saying.
A de facto moratorium on civilian executions has been in&nbsp;place in Pakistan since 2008.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered the lifting of&nbsp;self-imposed moratorium on the death penalty in terror-related&nbsp;cases after the massacre of 148 people, including 132&nbsp;students, in the worst terrorist attack in Pakistan's history.
"These sacrifices will not go wasted and we all want&nbsp;complete elimination of terrorism from Pakistan," Sharif said.
"If terrorists are not punished, then who will be&nbsp;punished?" he quipped. "We have proposed terror cases should&nbsp;be expedited."
He said important legal steps will be taken to plug&nbsp;loopholes in the justice system so that militants should not&nbsp;use them to escape punishment.&nbsp;
The Express Tribune also said Interior Ministry today&nbsp;forwarded 120 mercy appeals to the premier for consideration.
Pakistan is feared to lose a concessionary trade deal&nbsp;with the EU after resuming hangings. Some 150 countries have&nbsp;abolished the death penalty or no longer carry out executions.
According to the interior ministry estimates more than&nbsp;8,000 death row prisoners are in Pakistan who have already&nbsp;exhausted all options and would be hanged within weeks if the&nbsp;government allowed the executions.

With Pakistan lifting the&nbsp;moratorium on the death sentences, 17 of the 55 convicted&nbsp;terrorists whose mercy petitions have been dismissed are set to be executed in the next few days

Peshawar attack aftermath: Pakistan prepares to execute terrorists facing gallows

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Peshawar attack aftermath: Pakistan prepares to execute terrorists facing gallows

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