ISLAMABAD (TIP): Pakistan on Dec 3 hanged four militants involved in the massacre of nearly 150 people, 134 of them schoolchildren, at an army public school last year in Peshawar in the northwest.

The death sentences were awarded by a military court and army chief, general Raheel Sharif had signed black warrants for the four convicted persons on Monday. The hangings, which took place at a prison in north-western Kohat city, were the first executions of civilians convicted by the country’s military court. The military courts were established after Pakistan’s political parties unanimously amended the constitution on Gen Raheel’s demand after the horrific attack on school on 16 December, 2014. Besides establishment of military courts, the massacre had also prompted a military crackdown on militants in tribal regions of North Waziristan and Khyber and the resumption of capital punishment after a six-year moratorium.

During the attack, the militants had scaled the walls to get into the school and set off bombs before moving to classrooms to fire indiscriminately at both children and staff-members. Many of the students gunned down in that assault were the children of military personnel.

The military claimed that the four convicts, Molvi Abdus Salam, Hazrat Ali, Mujeebur Rehman and Sabeel alias Yahya, were active members of Toheedwal Jihad Group
(TWJ), a little-known outfit. The details shared by the army’s media wing revealed that Molvi Abdus was found involved in harbouring suicide bombers, who were used in the attack on the Army Public School.

Hazrat Ali, another convict was accused of attacks on law enforcement agencies, kidnappings and collecting funds for attack on Army Public School, Peshawar. Mujeebur Rehman and Sabeel , however, were found guilty by the military court for attacks on law enforcement agencies and abetment in the attack on the Army Public School. President Mamnoon Hussain had rejected their appeals for mercy last month.