Senior officials of law enforcement agencies and jail administration are having sleepless nights because of the presence of Dr Shakeel Afridi and around 130 hardcore militants in Peshawar Central Jail.
Since the jailbreak incident in Dera Ismail Khan on the night between July 27 and 28, a heavy contingent of security personnel is guarding the Peshawar Central Jail and its surrounding areas while senior military officials are also involved in managing the jail’s administration and army personnel have been tasked with training the jail’s security detail to prevent a recurrence of the DI Khan and Bannu jailbreak incidents.
Official sources told Pakistan Today that there are more than 1,600 inmates in Peshawar Central Jail. Amongst them, around 500 are serving their prison terms while the remaining are under trial. There are 24 female prisoners of whom only four are convicted.
According to insiders, around 130 hardcore militants are also imprisoned in Peshawar Central Jail. Before the jailbreak incident in Dera Ismail Khan these militant inmates never allowed any security search of their belongings and barracks but after Eidul Fitr they conceded to frequent searches by security officials.
The sources said that keeping in view serious threats to life of Dr Afridi, the prisons department had adopted a strategy under which he is frequently shifted from one cell to another at nighttime under the supervision of the jail superintendent and senior officials.
Jail sources said that army personnel were monitoring the jail’s security round-the-clock through closed circuit cameras. “There are around 37 CCTVs inside the jail. Two cameras are monitored by the jail superintendent while the remaining cameras are being monitored by army personnel from the control room,” they said.