New York, March 15 (IANS): Pakistani authorities should immediately halt the execution of an alleged child offender scheduled for March 19 and commute his sentence, Human Rights Watch said Sunday.

On March 12, an anti-terrorism court in Karachi approved the execution of Shafqat Hussain, who was allegedly 14 or 15 years old when sentenced in 2004 for kidnapping and killing a seven-year-old boy.

The court approved Hussain's execution despite allegations that security forces in Sindh province had tortured Hussain into confessing to the crime.

"Executing child offenders is a barbarous violation of basic decency and international law," said Human Rights Watch.

"Sending someone to the gallows for an alleged crime committed as a child shows the Pakistani government's disregard for children's rights."

Hussain's looming execution follows the government's decision on December 16 to rescind a four-year unofficial death penalty moratorium for non-military personnel "in terrorism related cases".

That decision was an explicit government reaction to the December 16 attack by the Pakistani Taliban splinter group Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) on a school in Peshawar that left at least 148 dead - almost all children.

Sharif's decision has led to more than 20 executions of people convicted of terrorism-related charges.

On March 10, interior ministry officials confirmed that Pakistan had lifted its death penalty moratorium for all capital crimes and instructed provincial governments to proceed with executions according to law.