Taliban warns Pakistan government against execution of militants in jail The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has allowed a five-year moratorium on capital punishment to expire. When Pakistan's new government allowed a five-year moratorium on capital punishment to expire in June it had hoped the move would burnish its reputation for being tough on law and order. But the decision has enraged the Taliban, which issued a statement on Tuesday promising to target the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) if executions of militants on death row are carried out. The Punjab wing of the Pakistani Taliban said the PML-N, led by the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, would be pulled into a "swamp of blood" if any of their comrades were executed. "Implementation on executions will be a declaration of war from the PML-N and it will have to pay a price for it at all costs," said the statement, which was signed by Asmatullah Muavia, the Punjabi Taliban spokesman. The statement said "death warrants of our comrades have been issued in Punjab," the country's most populous province where militant networks have largely avoided head-on confrontations with political leaders, focusing instead on sectarian killings. It is not clear how many militants are on death row in the province, but two from the banned Sunni group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi are due to be executed in neighbouring Sindh next week. In July the interior ministry said 450 convicts were awaiting execution. At the time the moratorium lapsed the government ignored the objections of domestic and foreign human rights activists, but it may quietly think again given the Taliban's proven track record of murdering politicians whom it dislikes. The statement by the Punjabi Taliban urged the PML-N to "remember the fate of the Awami National Party (ANP) ," a secular and anti-Taliban Pashtun party from the restless western tribal areas which was targeted during the spring election campaign. Suicide bombers succeeded in killing a number of senior politicians and party workers, forcing the ANP to conduct much of its campaigning behind closed doors. By contrast, the PML-N and other conservative and religious leaning parties were free to campaign normally with mass public rallies. The statement said the executions would shut down any possibility of peace talks with the Taliban, a stated aim of the PML-N government. It also warned against another key government objective of improving relations with India. It said the PML-N and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, a rightwing party led by Imran Khan, risked being drawn into full-blown conflict with the Taliban by "short-sighted people in the intelligence agencies."