Under Pakistani law, convicts sentenced to life imprisonment are often released after as little as 10 years. In some cases, the rich and influential can buy their way out of jail. And militants with the Taliban and other banned groups, who have killed thousands of civilians, are rarely convicted.

“We need to tighten the law before we can talk about abolishing the death penalty,” said Mr. Aziz, the government adviser. He added that the death penalty was still in use in India and the United States, two countries from which Pakistanis are often loath to accept lectures.

Before the freeze on executions, Pakistan was one of the world’s most enthusiastic proponents of capital punishment. About 27 offenses, including blasphemy and computer crimes, are punishable by execution. The 8,000 Pakistanis on death row account for about one-third of the world total, according to Amnesty International (although the group does not have figures for China, which is thought to carry out the highest number of executions).

Government officials say they might permanently extend the moratorium on human rights and business grounds — although critics believe they are equally influenced by fear of the Taliban.

In a joint letter to Mr. Sharif and others on Aug. 16, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists said that a resumption of executions would constitute “a major step back for human rights in the country.” Human rights groups have also been sharply critical about the quality of trial justice in Pakistan, and have raised concerns about the high number of teenagers on death row.

In Islamabad on Aug. 27, Ana Gomes, the head of a European Union trade delegation, warned that new hangings would represent a “major setback” to Pakistan’s chance of obtaining lucrative trade tariffs: a matter that is subject to a vote in European Parliament in the coming weeks.

For Mr. Zardari, the moratorium is personal and political. His father-in-law, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a one-time prime minister and father of Benazir Bhutto, was executed under the military dictator Gen. Muhammad Zia ul-Haq in 1979.