But instead of killing militants, the campaign is largely executing common criminals, The Associated Press has found. Only one in 10 of the 226 prisoners executed since December was convicted of a terror attack, according to human rights activists.
Still, the executions continue in order to placate a public still angry over last year's Taliban assault on a military school in the city of Peshawar.
"You cannot deter those militants who are committed to die for a cause," said analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi, a retired political science professor.
Pakistan under former President Pervez Musharraf halted executions in 2008, partly due to the pressure of human rights groups.
The hiatus started after another terror attack shocked the nation the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto amid a heated election campaign.
At the time of the pause in 2008, Human Rights Watch said some 7,000 people were on Pakistan's death row and 36 had been put to death that year.
The year before, authorities executed 134 people; they put to death 85 in 2006, 52 in 2005 and 21 in 2004. Officials discussed commuting the death sentences of those remaining to life in prison, but apparently never did.
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