KARACHI – The federal government is seemingly reluctant to issue a no objection certificate (NOC) to the Sindh government for installing cell-phone jammers in prisons despite repeated approaches by the provincial authorities.
Sources said that the Sindh Home Department wants to install cell-phone jamming system in the prisons in a move to stop jail inmates from communicating with their relatives and other criminals outside.
“In some cases, prisoners have been found involved in offences such as extending threats of kidnapping-for-ransom.
They usually coordinate with their associates outside jail, who execute their orders,” a senior official of the Prisons Department, on condition of anonymity, told Pakistan Today.
The officer said that the Sindh government had completed all paperwork – including allocating funds for jammers, and the Federal Information Technology (IT) Ministry was only to issue a NOC for the purpose. He said that all prisoners, including low- and high-profile ones, used cell-phone to maintain contact with the outside world.
“Search operations inside jails for recovery of mobile phones have resulted in riots and disturbances in prisons,” the officer said.
“The Sindh government has time and again forwarded letters to the IT Ministry, seeking a formal permission for the installation of jamming system. However, no response has been received thus far by the authorities at the Centre.
