The officials of Sindh Prisons Department are facilitating some alleged hardcore militants as dignitaries by providing them undue concessions in the province’s jails, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Despite the recent jailbreak in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ringing alarm bells for jail administrations in all four provinces, the senior most prisons official in Sindh has ordered his subordinates to shift a detained suspected extremist from a high-security cell to a normal one.
Sources privy to the development told Pakistan Today that there are a large number of hardcore militants affiliated with banned outfits and they were kept under tight security.
“However, the Inspector General (IG) of Prisons and the Deputy Inspector are shifting the extremists convicted for different terrorism incidents in the country on the basis of favouritism,” they added.
The sources said that IG Prisons Ghulam Qadir Thebo has ordered deputy inspector Nusrat Mangan to shift an alleged militant named Qadir Shah Bukhari from a high-security zone of the Karachi jail to a ward of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) “to facilitate him in providing extra facilities that could create an unruly situation in the already overcrowded jail”.
Shah was arrested by the law enforcement agencies from district Sanghar for links with a banned outfit and was lodged at the Central Prison Karachi under tight security.
“On Monday, at least three relatives of Shah visited the office of IG Prisons who held a detailed meeting with them,” the sources said. “After the meeting, Thebo telephoned Mangan and ordered him to shift Shah to a ward for JSQM workers, so that the man may avail the facilities being provided to political prisoners.”
Reportedly, the jails in Sindh are already overcrowded with prisoners and different diseases are spreading amongst them. The total capacity of 16 prisons in the province is 9,317 inmates, but the jails are housing more than 20,213 prisoners currently. Among them, 9,107 prisoners have been awarded punishments, while 11,106 are under-trial.
Pakistan Today repeatedly tried to contact Sindh Prisons Minister Ayaz Soomro for an official version on the story; however, his cell phone remained unattended.
