Under wraps: Central prison to be shifted for security reasons

Officials say that the city courts will move to the central prison’s location.

KARACHI: As a pre-emptive measure against possible attacks at jails by militant outfits, the government is considering shifting the central prison from its current location, The Express Tribune learnt on Tuesday.

This was recently disclosed at a high-level meeting of the Sindh High Court Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar with senior government representatives. According to sources, the provincial law minister, Sikandar Mandhro, finance secretary and finance advisor briefed the chief justice about the project to construct the New Secretariat Building near the SHC Building.

They quoted the minister as saying that the government is taking the intelligence reports about possible attacks on the central prison very seriously, and it has been decided to shift the same to an undisclosed location.

Currently, the prison is under tight security with dozens of jammers have been installed to thwart any untoward incident.

Courts shifting

The minister also informed Justice Baqar that once the central prison is relocated, the city courts would be shifted to the central prison. Members of the legal fraternity have been asking to relocate the district courts from MA Jinnah Road as the current buildings have become overcrowded with the growing number of cases and litigants. According to the law minister, a final decision will be taken during a meeting scheduled in the coming weeks. He assured that the high court would be informed as soon as the matter is finalised.

New secretariat project

While briefing about the new secretariat building project, the officials said that the proposed building would not affect the historic building of the high court, which has been declared as a protected heritage site.

“The new secretariat building will have five floors and comprise two high-rise towers, each having 15 floors, to be built on either sides of the SHC building’s gate on the Court Road,” officials told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th, 2014.