Pakistan has hanged 12 convicts in several jails across the country Tuesday, in what was the country's largest number of executions in one day since the ban on death penalty was lifted.

A local newspaper reported the executions took place in jails in Multan, Karachi, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Jhang.

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An interior ministry spokesman said convicted terrorists and murderers were among those executed and that more will follow in the coming weeks.

The moratorium on executions was implemented in 2008, when a democratic government took over a military rule.  However, it was lifted in December, particularly on terrorism-related cases, after a Taliban attack killed more than 150 people - most of them children --  in a school in Peshawar.

So far, 27 convicts have been executed since Dec. 17 and more than 40 more are scheduled to be hanged next week. 

"We have started a process, and it will continue,"  Home Minister Shuja Khanzada said.

But just last week, the government had announced that the lifting of the death penalty ban would cover all cases, and that includes all death row convicts whose appeals had been rejected.

An estimated 8,000 Pakistanis are on death row.  But human rights groups doubt the prisoners received fair trial citing Pakistan's outdated justice system and policemen who use torture to extract confessions.

One of the much-talked about and controversial death row convict  was Shafqat Hussain, who is due to be hanged on Thursday.  Hussain was only 14 years old when he was convicted 10 years ago of kidnapping and manslaughter of a child.

But many say his confession was forced out following nine days of torture.

TagsPakistan, execution, hanging