Pakistan hanged two members of an outlawed sectarian group on Wednesday, the latest in a string of executions after the government lifted a moratorium on the death penalty following a militant attack on a school in which 153 people were killed.
Critics have, however, accused the authorities of not cracking down equally on all militants, only targeting those who fight against the state and sparing others with a narrower sectarian agenda or who are focused on fighting outside Pakistan.
The two convicts executed on Wednesday, however, belonged to the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Sunni sectarian group - suggesting that the government is widening its campaign.
"The two terrorists, Ahmed Ali and Ghulam Shabbir, were executed early this morning. Both were involved in murder cases and both belonged to Sipah-e-Sahaba," said Saeed Ullah Gondal, an official at the central jail in Multan.
He said Ali had been in jail for killing three people in a religious dispute in 1998, while Shabbir had been convicted of killing a police officer and his driver in the same year.
