Prison turbulence: Letter warns CM of possible attacks on Peshawar jail

Suggests transfer of Dr Shakil Afridi out of province.


Umer Farooq January 10, 2014
Suggests transfer of Dr Shakil Afridi out of province. PHOTO: ABDUL GHAFFAR BAIG

PESHAWAR:


A letter written to the chief minister recently informed him of serious resistance from prisoners at the Central Jail Peshawar and revealed that an earlier skirmish had allowed inmates to mingle with one another.


Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister (CM) Pervez Khattak was also informed of intelligence agencies’ fresh alerts of a possible militant attack on the prison targeting alleged CIA informant Dr Shakil Afridi, who is among the prison’s high-profile inmates.

Earlier this week, four prisoners were reportedly injured during a clash between members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Islam. TTP prisoners had blamed LI militants for their “phone calls,” which lead to a search operation conducted by security forces at the jail.

 photo 14_zpsbfc293f9.jpg

“It is imperative to bring to your (CM) notice that serious threats are being received through federal intelligence agencies and other sources,” read a letter issued from the office of CM’s adviser on prisons Malik Qasim Khattak. It further cautioned Khattak that the presence of Afridi and other high-profile prisoners poses a serious threat and stressed the need to transfer Afridi out of the province.

The federal government has been requested more than 25 times to shift Afridi out of Peshawar as he is a federal convict, said a senior bureaucrat, adding all other provinces, including Gilgit-Baltistan, have refused to incarcerate Afridi.

The official, while requesting anonymity, said the issue was again raised at a meeting of federal, interior and defence ministry officials, along with representatives of the national crisis management cell and provincial home departments but could not be resolved.

“K-P proposed to keep 100 imprisoned target killers of Sindh in exchange for them keeping Afridi but Sindh refused,” the bureaucrat said, adding Afridi has become a serious threat for the provincial authorities.

According to official sources, jails in K-P are overburdened with prisoners, estimated at 10,000, whereas the total capacity at all five prisons of the province is around 7,300. Two more prisons are currently under construction in Swat and Abbottabad.

Moreover, on Wednesday, an inquiry committee submitted a report before the provincial assembly on the construction of a prison in Hangu and cited serious reservations.

The report revealed that construction material used was of poor quality and the prison could not be used for keeping petty convicts, let alone high-profile militants.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10th, 2014.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ