Sparc, prison dept aim reintegration of young prisoners in Sindh

Karachi has the highest number of prisoners in Pakistan

KARACHI: The Society for the Protection of Rights of the Child (Sparc), in consultation with the Sindh prisons pepartment, hosted a moot on Tuesday to highlight the importance of economic rehabilitation and reintegration of imprisoned juvenile persons into the society.

Speaking on the occasion, Sindh Local Government, Forests and Religious Affairs Minister Nasir Hussain Shah said that the provincial government had already introduced reforms in prison laws, which were "one-and-a-half-century old."

Sparc Project Manager Shumaila Waheed stated that violent extremist organisations target vulnerable youth to spread their agenda of hatred and divisive narratives. She claimed that Sparc had worked extensively to improve jail conditions and had successfully conducted rehabilitative projects for the prisoners across the country.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Sidra Imran assured the audience that prisoners would be provided equal opportunities to participate in cultural activities and vocational training without any discrimination on the basis of race, offence, colour, gender, language, religion, sect, ethnicity or status.

Sindh Prisons IG Nusrat Magan said that the authorities were determined to provide all possible facilities in prisons, adding that changing people's perception about prisoners is very important. "This youth is our future," he said. "If we do not give them opportunities, our future will only get darker, we cannot discriminate against them."

At the beginning of the event programme, Sparc's Kashif Mirza presented a few statistics, according to which Karachi has the highest number of prisoners in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2020.