Operation to free five policemen, who were taken hostage by prisoners, has stopped. Law enforcing agencies had started the Larkana Jail operation on Saturday evening to control the rioting prisoners and release the five policemen.
Larkana Central Jail SP Abdul Ghaffar Dhar said the process of shifting 200 prisoners from Larkana to other jails started on judicial order. Seventy rowdy prisoners surrendered to authorities, while other rebellious prisoners are still holding the five policemen hostage. Prisoners who resisted the operation hurled stones, wounding seven policemen including the DSP.
The injured were shifted to the Chndka Medical Hospital, where one was said to be in serious condition. Jail officials have called for fresh contingents of district police and rangers to control the situation.
Some 1,200 inmates at Larkana prison, 350 kilometres (217 miles) northeast of Karachi, were being moved to other facilities on the high court’s orders to allow for repairs at their jail, Ghulam Qadir Thebo told AFP.
“We are negotiating the release of hostages,” Thebo earlier told AFP.
In March police killed seven inmates and wounded 20 during an operation to prevent a jail-break in a prison in the southern city of Hyderabad.