Ghani reviewing cases of death row prisoners

KABUL (Pajhwok): After branding militants as terrorists, President Ashraf Ghani has begun reviewing cases of death row insurgents, the Presidential Palace said on Thursday.

The president’s deputy spokesman, Shah Hussain Murtazawi, told a news conference in Kabul that the president had ordered judiciary organs to share with him cases of inmates sentenced to death.

“The judiciary organs shared the first list of death row inmates with the president today,” Murtazawi said, without giving the number of the inmates.

“The president is committed to what he has promised. No one should doubt the readiness of the gallows for hanging terrorists. All our deeds are in accordance with Islamic rules and the Constitution in any inmate case,” he said.

He said Anas Haqqani, a leading member of the Haqqani Network, was not in the list because his case was yet to complete.

About a Taliban delegation’s arrival in Pakistan, Murtazawi said: “To us, it is questionable; a terrorist group has no right to travel to a country.”

About the Taliban delegation’s aim to discuss refugees related issues with Pakistan, he said the Taliban themselves had forced Afghans into migration by intensifying violence and insurgency in Afghanistan.

He added the Taliban, who forced Afghans into migration, could never address migrants’ problems. “Only govements are responsible to deal with the migrant issue,” he said.

Murtazawi said the Afghan Refugee and Repatriation Minister visited Pakistan last week and discussed with Pakistani officials Afghan refugees’ problems.

He said the Afghan govement condemned any talks with the Taliban on migrants, borders or any other issues.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) spokesman Javid Faisal, who was present in the press conference, said: “Now we better recognise our enemies and friends. Those who are fighting against our national interests are Afghanistan enemies.”

He said militants directing suicide blasts in Afghanistan were terrorists who could be sentenced to death.

mds/ma