Even though three months have passed since the delay in installing jammers in jails across the country was cleared, no major headway has yet been made in the actual installation of the devices.
While 26 prisons in Sindh await the budget allocation for the jammers, in Punjab trials of the devices remain unsuccessful and point out the need for better expertise and equipment. Jail authorities across the country are battling with the Federal Information Technology (IT) and Telecom Secretary in Islamabad for permission to install the jammers.
Inspector General Prisons Sindh Ghulam Qadir Thebo said he was helpless, unless the funding from the government came through. “We requested the provincial government for Rs30 million as soon as we received the No-Objection Certificate from the IT ministry, but to date have not gotten a single rupee,” he mentioned.
The need for jammers became evident after prison and police officials admitted that smuggling of mobile phones was rampant in jails, despite efforts to curb the practice. They argued that the only way to deal with the problem was to have jammers installed, at least in prisons with high-profile inmates.
Punjab Prison Inspector General Mian Farooq Nazir added that they installed three jammers at the Lahore Central prison in the first phase, but immediately ran into problems. “We discovered that despite the installation of the devices, there were some areas within the jail premises where the mobile phones could be used,” he claimed.
The problem, he admitted, was lack of technical expertise in installing the jammers. He also said that most of the companies which provided the jammers did not offer a demonstration trial period. “We wrote to the provincial government to form a committee comprising technical experts that would look into the problems of installing the equipment, and establish a standard equipment protocol that would be followed in all jails,” he reiterated.
Nazir hoped the committee that had been formed with Hamza Sharif, son of Shahbaz Sharif as a member, would give its decision in the coming days.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 6th, 2012.
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They don't know and don't care about the havoc they have played in Lahore. The jammers installed at Central Jail Lahore have destroyed the frequency band of mobile phone upto half way across the city. For sure, the people who planned and installed the jammers are highly incompetent.
Interestingly, the mobile phone operators have taken the case to the High Court and despite a decision from the court to uninstall the jammers, the Punjab Government has paid no heed. We are told that even contempty notices have also been served to different functionaries, including the IG Prisons. Such is the sad state of affairs of our governance and law enforcement.