Prisoner’s plea: Court summons Punjab prisons chief

Murder convict accuses jail official of torture.

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday summoned the inspector general of Punjab Prisons on a petition accusing jailed authorities of torturing him during his incarceration.

While entertaining the petition, IHC judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui directed IG Punjab Prisons Mian Farooq Naeer to appear in person on May 27.

The petitioner, Samiya Mustafa Gilani, the daughter of Ghulam Mustafa Gilani, through her counsel said that the jail authorities severely tortured her 68-year-old father on May 6.

Mustafa was convicted of murder in 2007 and was given a life sentence.

On Thursday, he personally appeared before the court and recorded his statement. Mustafa alleged that on May 6, Jail Assistant Superintendent Tasawar Iqbal entered his cell to search it. When Mustafa objected, Iqbal allegedly removed his own vest, “stripped off my clothes and tortured me,” Mustafa alleged.

The petitioner said that after the incident, the official deprived him all the basic facilities usually available to other prisoners.

Mustafa, who retired from the World Bank as an information officer in 2000, also alleged that the jail authorities then put him in category-C, despite the fact that he was originally in category-B.

“Since the incident occurred, all basic facilities have been withdrawn from me and I am not even allowed to meet my family,” he said.

Justice Siddiqui noted that the allegations against the jail authorities were of serious nature.

“There is a perception about the jail environment that no law exists for common prisoners and only influential prisoners get facilities,” the judge observed.

Mutafa further said that he brought the matter to the notice of the jail superintendent, but he did not pay any heed to his plea, forcing him to approach the court. He requested the court to order an inquiry into the incident.

Samiya Mustafa told The Express Tribune that her father was put behind bars in a “fabricated murder case”. She said that after retirement, her father had established an NGO in the Shakrial area of Islamabad.

“Influential people from the area tried to force my father to stop work there, and upon his refusal, they implicated him in a murder case,” she claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2014.