Pakistan will continue with the moratorium on capital punishment until the country's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the new President Mamnoon Hussain meet to review the measure, officials said.
Denying recent reports that the government has decided to scrap death penalty, Interior Ministry spokesperson Omar Hameed Khan told PTI, "It is old news. The prime minister has stopped death penalty till meeting with the President."
The two leaders are likely to meet in a couple of weeks to take a final decision on whether to lift the ban or continue the previous government's decision.
Sharif's government had earlier said it wanted to reinstate death penalty in a bid to crack down on criminals and militants, a move criticised by international human rights groups.
In August, the government decided to hang four convicts on death row. They include two members of the banned sectarian outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and were scheduled to be executed at the Sukkur jail in Sindh and Karachi Central prison on August 20, 21 and 22.
However, a temporary stay was ordered on these executions following objections from then President Asif Ali Zardari. It was decided that a fresh decision would be taken after the new President is sworn in.
The European Union (EU) has cautioned Pakistan in August that lifting the moratorium will be viewed as a major setback in the 28-member bloc and will possibly affect Islamabad's quest for duty-free access to European markets.
Sharif directed the interior ministry to halt executions till further orders in the wake of the foreign ministry's recommendations to avail the Generalised Scheme of Preference (GSP) from the EU.
