Central jail’s superintendent to appear before court on September 1

Court staff heard rumours of threats received at Hyderabad jail.

KARACHI: The superintendent of Karachi’s Central Jail has been summoned to the Anti-Terrorism Court-III to explain why several prisoners whose trials were ongoing were transferred to Hyderabad jail.

A show cause notice was issued to the superintendent to appear in court on September 1. The notice specifies the accused in nine cases that were transferred: these include Ziauddin, Abdul Razzaq and Qari Inayatullah, and Mohammad Ajmal alias Akram Lahori, Mohammad Azam and Ataullah.

These cases were being heard inside jail for security reasons. Observers are not allowed to attend the proceedings.

The Anti-Terrorism Courts have been abuzz with the news of the transfers and how this impacts ongoing cases.

One lawyer whose client list is replete with alleged militants speculated that the inmates would be transferred back in a couple of months.

While the men were transferred over an alleged jailbreak plot at the Karachi prison, the Anti-Terrorism Court staff has also heard rumours of threats received at Hyderabad jail. However, Sindh Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ayaz Soomro dismissed security threats to prisons in the province on Sunday, and instead invited journalists to visit any of the 27 jails in Sindh with only a 15 to 20 minute notice.

In its 2011 report on reforming Pakistan’s prison system, the International Crisis Group recommended that the government improve prison security by taking action against prison officials for not enforcing security regulations and preventing access to mobile phones and reducing criminal activity within prisons.

It also asked the government to train and equip prison staff to effectively quell riots and repel attacks by prisoners and install closed-circuit television cameras and jammers.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2012.