Suspended jailer was asked to put all PPP prisoners in one barrack by home minister

Jailer goes to court for refusing home minster's orders. Court issues notice to home minister.

KARACHI: A jailer has gone to court after he was suspended, he says for refusing to move Pakistan Peoples Party prisoners into one barrack on the home minister’s orders.

The petitioner is Liaquat Ali, a deputy superintendent at the Nawabshah district prison. His lawyer Ghulam Qadir Jatoi told the Sindh High Court on Monday that the home minister had called Ali in the last week of December and directed him to accommodate all the prisoners belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party in one barrack, irrespective of the nature of offences committed by them.

As these orders were not consistent with prison rules, Ali said that he would be unable to follow them. He requested the home minister to give the orders in writing as he [the minister] was the competent authority. At this request, the minister grew annoyed. He grabbed the petitioner by the collar and threatened him, the lawyer said.

On December 24, 2010, the prisons inspector-general suspended Ali and transferred him to Hyderabad with orders to attend to the inspector-general’s office, said Jatoi.

According to Ali, the authorities failed to explain why these orders were given and no departmental inquiry was conducted. He was suspended by the same jail superintendent who had issued a certificate saying that Ali’s work and conduct were satisfactory.

Jatoi argued that the suspension and transfer orders were based on sheer mala fide intention and the personal grudge of the minister. Ali has requested the court to declare the order illegal and against the principle of natural justice. He also requested the court ask all the respondents to not disturb him and allow him to continue his duties at the Nawabshah prison.

On Monday, a division bench comprising Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Abdul Hadi Khoso issued pre-admission notices for February 28 to the Sindh home secretary, Sindh prisons inspector-general and Benazirabad (Nawabshah) district prisons superintendent.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2011.