ISLAMABAD: Rights groups Saturday condemned Pakistan’s decision to hang two convicted militants in its first executions for six years, as leaders vowed decisive action in the wake of a Taleban school massacre.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif relinquished the six-year ban on the death penalty in terror-related cases two days after the school attack.

The Human Rights Watch termed the executions “a craven politicized reaction to the Peshawar killings,” demanding that no further hangings be carried out.

“Pakistan’s government has chosen to indulge in vengeful blood-lust instead of finding and prosecuting those responsible for the horrific Peshawar attack,” the group said in a statement Saturday.

“This is a cynical reaction from the government. It masks a failure to deal with the core issue highlighted by the Peshawar attack, namely the lack of effective protection for civilians in north-west Pakistan,” Amnesty International said about Friday’s executions.

The UN also called for Pakistan to reconsider executions saying that “death penalty has no measurable deterrent effect on levels of insurgent and terrorist violence” and “may even be counter-productive.”