Internment centres for militants run out of space

Authorities want to reduce the number of people to avoid incidents such as the Bannu jailbreak.

PESHAWAR: As government authorities continue to make all-out efforts to rehabilitate militants, internment centres have run out of capacity although seven more such institutions have recently been established. 

An official at the Home and Tribal Affairs Department, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa told The Express Tribune that there are around 524 militants being ‘de-radicalised’ at different internment centres.

He added that the Darosh Internment Centre in Chitral is in its final stage of completion and will reduce the burden on other centres. “We have had a bad experience of the Bannu jailbreak in which some high-profile militants, including Adnan Rasheed, escaped. That’s why we want to reduce the number of people kept at one centre,” he said.

But he added, however, that keeping militants in separate places was also at risk.

Internment centres in Kohat, Lakki Marwat, Timergara, Pythom, Malakand and Fizagat house terrorists, most of who are held in centres in Lakki Marwat, Pythome and Malakand.

At these internment centres, alleged militants are also trained as automobile mechanics, electricians and given computer classes. After the completion of training, a ceremony is held to release the interned persons.

On the Peshawar High Court’s orders, the provincial government had granted around Rs100 million for the provision of facilities at the centres.

On August 16, during a hearing of a case on missing persons, the court was informed that nine more people had been sent for ‘de-radicalisation’ whereas nine had been released from internment centres. Of them, one person was handed over to Khyber Agency for trial.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2012.