The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday questioned the maintainability of a petition of civil rights campaigner wherein he sought public executions of terrorists and effective security measures for Karachi Central Jail which houses around 5,200 inmates, mostly high-profile, hardened and professional criminals.
A division bench headed by Justice Ahmed Ali M Shaikh directed the petitioner to forward his argument at the next hearing on the maintainability of the petition.
In his petition, United Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (UNHRC) Secretary General Rana Faizul Hasan, a civil rights campaigner pleaded the court to order the authorities to carry out public hangings of terrorists. He also pleaded the court to direct the provincial government to take effective measures to secure Karachi Central Jail and clear the megalopolis of weapons.
SECURE KARACHI PRISON:
He submitted in the petition that the government had lifted the moratorium on hangings against the backdrop of cold-blooded massacre of Peshawar school children. Since the execution of death row convicts are being carried out, there is a probability of armed attack on Karachi Central Prison, he added.
He recalled that earlier terrorists had built an underground tunnel inside a house in Ghousia Colony near Central Jail which led into the jail barracks where high profile prisoners were kept but Rangers’ timely action had foiled the breakout attempt. He told the judges that many high-rise buildings have been raised around the prison which poses a threat to the security of the prison. Hence, he requested the court to order demolition of such buildings.
