Relief: Eid package to last till Sunday

Jail authorities asked to verify notification of court orders from duty magistrates

LAHORE: An Eid Package under which prisoners serving sentences for petty offences were released to spend Eid with their relatives would continue till Sunday on the directive of District and Sessions Judge Nazir Ahmad Gajana.

The package was announced by the DSJ after a meeting with Lahore Bar Association (LBA) representatives including secretary Shahid Nawab Cheema.

Jail superintendents were directed to verify the robkars (notifications of court orders) directly from duty magistrates to avoid delays in the release of prisoners. The latter had been authorised to send robkars to jails.

Separately, Home Secretary Major (r) Azam Suleman and Prisons IG Mian Farooq Nazeer visited the camp jail on Thursday where they distributed gifts among inmates and monitored arrangements in the kitchen, library and barracks.

They directed the prisons administration to provide free telephone service to juvenile prisoners, to replace out of order ceiling fans and to install an air conditioner in the prison pharmacy.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2016.