Pakistan's army chief signs death sentences for 11 Taliban militants

Pakistan's army chief has confirmed the death sentence for 11 militants after military courts found them guilty of carrying out multiple deadly attacks against security forces as well as civilians.

According to local media reports, the military said in a statement on Saturday that Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa also approved imprisonment for three people for their involvement in acts of terror. "The army chief also confirmed life imprisonment for three convicts."

It added that the 11 convicted "hardcore terrorists" from Pakistani Taliban had killed three dozen civilians and 24 troops in separate attacks in recent years across the country.

The offenses included attacks on armed forces, destruction of various educational institutions and a deadly rampage at Bacha Khan University in the troubled northwest in early 2016 that claimed the lives of over 20 people.

The military courts allow the army to try civilians on terror charges in secret and the trials are closed to the public. They were established in the wake of a December 2014 Taliban massacre at an army-run school in the northwestern city of Peshawar that killed over 150 people, mostly school children.

Following that attack the Islamabad government lifted the moratorium on death penalty. Scores of militants have since been condemned to death.

Despite frequent offensives by the Pakistani army, acts of terror by militants continue to target security forces as well as civilians.

SS