PPP ministers help upgrade jail, joke about not knowing what the future holds
Better food, health care, communications and new jails in the pipeline.
KARACHI:
The Sindh prisons department has received arms and ammunition worth Rs33 million from the government as part of a total one billion rupees earmarked for its system overhaul over the next three years.
The department says this is the first time they are receiving their own equipment. “Previously, the prisons have always been dependent on other institutions,” remarked Special Secretary Dost Ali Baloch.
High-ranking police officials from all over the province, elected representatives, lawyers and bureaucrats attended the ceremony at Central Jail in Karachi which started off on the wrong foot with MPA Sardar Ahmed Ali Khan Pitafi complaining that elected representatives should be seated in the front, not bureaucrats. This led to an uncomfortable shuffling of seats to accommodate the MPA.
The jail itself got a comprehensive makeover before the arrival of the guests as elevator music and the police marching band ushered in the VIPs to a covered and carpeted ground near the main entrance.
Guest of honour Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah joked about being invited. “It’s good that they have called us to the ground, and not inside the jail,” he quipped, alluding to times when he was detained for his politics. “The situation used to be so bad in the holding cells that we used to be stacked on top of each other and the tallest of us, Taj Haider, couldn’t even stretch his legs fully.”
Shah used these jokes to stress that prisoners should be treated as human beings and that under-trial prisoners are innocent until proven guilty, and should be treated as such. “The jail superintendent used to be like a king in the jail, and the prisoners were like his subjects,” said Shah switching to a more harsh tone. “This behavior must be changed.”
The equipment has been purchased from Wah Industries and includes 44 light-machine guns (LMGs), 50 tear-gas guns , 5,000 tear-gas shells, 20 repeater shotguns and 1,000 shotgun rounds, 10 rubber bullet guns, 133,500 rounds of ammunition for submachine guns (SMGs), 35 pistols and 10,256 rounds of pistol ammunition.
One of the crates of ammunition bore this inscription: “The Honorable Minister, Ministry of Defence, Abuja, Nigeria.”
Prisons Inspector General Ghulam Qadir Thebo said that this installment of weaponry is just a first step in rehabilitating the prisons. “We are improving prison food and millions are being spent on medicines and on fixing the hospitals, providing prisoners with better living conditions regarding their beds and linen, personal hygiene products, vocational training and new barracks.”
Free legal aid, CCTV cameras, jammers, PCOs, new guest rooms for visitors as well as video conferencing equipment are on the cards as well. The department says they will be spending around 100 million rupees this year alone.
Sindh Minister for Jails, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Ayaz Soomro proudly announced, “There are no political prisoners in Sindh’s jails today.” But then he sarcastically hinted at days when his government won’t be in power any more: “But we are going to raise the class of these prisons because we know what might be ahead for us in the days to come!”
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Special Secretary Baloch said that overpopulation is another prime target of the rehabilitation project and that new prisons in Thatta, Mirpurkhas and Nawabshah should be able to house a thousand prisoners.
“Seventy-six per cent of prisoners are under-trial and they end up being very costly for us because we have to house them and also spend money on transport and other privileges,” he said. “We need a system of suspended sentences in Pakistan so that our jails are not filled with under-trial prisoners.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 8th, 2012.
The Sindh prisons department has received arms and ammunition worth Rs33 million from the government as part of a total one billion rupees earmarked for its system overhaul over the next three years.
The department says this is the first time they are receiving their own equipment. “Previously, the prisons have always been dependent on other institutions,” remarked Special Secretary Dost Ali Baloch.
High-ranking police officials from all over the province, elected representatives, lawyers and bureaucrats attended the ceremony at Central Jail in Karachi which started off on the wrong foot with MPA Sardar Ahmed Ali Khan Pitafi complaining that elected representatives should be seated in the front, not bureaucrats. This led to an uncomfortable shuffling of seats to accommodate the MPA.
The jail itself got a comprehensive makeover before the arrival of the guests as elevator music and the police marching band ushered in the VIPs to a covered and carpeted ground near the main entrance.
Guest of honour Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah joked about being invited. “It’s good that they have called us to the ground, and not inside the jail,” he quipped, alluding to times when he was detained for his politics. “The situation used to be so bad in the holding cells that we used to be stacked on top of each other and the tallest of us, Taj Haider, couldn’t even stretch his legs fully.”
Shah used these jokes to stress that prisoners should be treated as human beings and that under-trial prisoners are innocent until proven guilty, and should be treated as such. “The jail superintendent used to be like a king in the jail, and the prisoners were like his subjects,” said Shah switching to a more harsh tone. “This behavior must be changed.”
The equipment has been purchased from Wah Industries and includes 44 light-machine guns (LMGs), 50 tear-gas guns , 5,000 tear-gas shells, 20 repeater shotguns and 1,000 shotgun rounds, 10 rubber bullet guns, 133,500 rounds of ammunition for submachine guns (SMGs), 35 pistols and 10,256 rounds of pistol ammunition.
One of the crates of ammunition bore this inscription: “The Honorable Minister, Ministry of Defence, Abuja, Nigeria.”
Prisons Inspector General Ghulam Qadir Thebo said that this installment of weaponry is just a first step in rehabilitating the prisons. “We are improving prison food and millions are being spent on medicines and on fixing the hospitals, providing prisoners with better living conditions regarding their beds and linen, personal hygiene products, vocational training and new barracks.”
Free legal aid, CCTV cameras, jammers, PCOs, new guest rooms for visitors as well as video conferencing equipment are on the cards as well. The department says they will be spending around 100 million rupees this year alone.
Sindh Minister for Jails, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Ayaz Soomro proudly announced, “There are no political prisoners in Sindh’s jails today.” But then he sarcastically hinted at days when his government won’t be in power any more: “But we are going to raise the class of these prisons because we know what might be ahead for us in the days to come!”
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Special Secretary Baloch said that overpopulation is another prime target of the rehabilitation project and that new prisons in Thatta, Mirpurkhas and Nawabshah should be able to house a thousand prisoners.
“Seventy-six per cent of prisoners are under-trial and they end up being very costly for us because we have to house them and also spend money on transport and other privileges,” he said. “We need a system of suspended sentences in Pakistan so that our jails are not filled with under-trial prisoners.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 8th, 2012.