- Mamnoon points out physical punishment, hurting self-respect create feelings of revenge
President Mamnoon Hussain on Wednesday underscored the need for ethical and moral reformation of the prisoners to control crime rate besides, making prisoners an effective part of the society.
He said this during the presentation of a report by the Prison Reforms Committee under the auspices of the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr. The president stressed that reforms in the jail system were inevitable in this regard.
He noted that in the modern world, prison reforms had been introduced in the light of Islamic teachings and prisons had been turned into reforms centres. He said the basic purpose of the punishment was to change their mindset through better treatment and training.
Being a political worker, he himself experienced imprisonment and personally observed conditions of the prisoners, he said, adding that the prisoners were not only subjected to physical punishment but also their self-respect was hurt. Such acts leave debilitating impact on their psyche which created feelings of revenge among them against their own enemies and the whole society, he observed.
The president said such punishments were of no use which resulted in the alienation of a certain segment of the society from the mainstream and instead of being beneficial, it actually became counter-productive. He also noted that the modern concept of incarceration and prisons was based upon spiritual and physical health improvement of the prisoners.
He said that Zakat could also be used to secure release of the prisoners who failed to pay their fines. He also commended the efforts of the well off segment of society for ameliorating the condition of prisoners and said that such charity would promote goodwill in the society. Federal Ombudsman Salman Faruqui, Prison Reforms Committee head Ejaz Ahmed Qureshi, and prominent social personalities and industrialists attended the event.
