The government has turned down the plea of its ally, Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), against the conversion of sentences of all the convicts on the death row into life imprisonm ent. JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has conveyed to Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Law Minister Farooq H. Naek his party's concern over the official move to change the death sentences into life terms, a JUI leader told this correspondent. It remains unclear whether or not those who have been imposed death penalty for blasphemy, terrorism, spying and espionage would also be beneficiary of the new official decision. On the 55th birth anniversary of a ssassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Premier Gilani announced to convert the death sentences of all locked in death cells into life imprisonments. This gave rise to a storm among the religious circles, which are opposing the decision on different grounds. “Fazlur Rehman has communicated to the government the JUI's stand on the official decision,” senior JUI leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said. __
