Blood screening of prisoners urged
Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Dr Rubaba Khan Buledi on Tuesday said blood screening of every prisoner before entering the jail had been made mandatory as per guidelines of the Federal Shariat Court, under the revised prison rules.
"There are testing laboratories in two jails of Balochistan including Quetta and Mach, however, laboratories are yet to be set up in nine other jails of the province," said Dr Buledi while talking to Inspector General Jail Malik Shuja Hussain Kasi.
She deplored that the old prison laws needed to be changed in line with the latest requirement as Bangali is included but Balochi and Brahui languages are not included in the curriculum in the Jail Manual.
"In 90% of the countries of the world, the old concept of prisons and barracks has been replaced by institutions of social reform and moral correctness under the human rights and justice system in which prisoners are imparted skills," she noted. According to the demand, they are taught skills which significantly improve their economic conditions and they prove to be useful members of the society.
About reforms in the prisons, she stressed that "There is a need for time to separate the prisons from the administrative departments and make them functional in terms of human rights."
Published in The Express Tribune, June 15th, 2022.