Panic in Hyderabad: Prison’s outer wall collapses

Several law enforcers guard the boundaries as repairs were carried out

HYDERABAD:

A small portion of the outermost wall of the Hyderabad Central Jail, one of the country's most sensitive prisons, collapsed late Sunday night.

Although the 20-foot-wide section was repaired by Monday afternoon, the occurrence created panic about the security risk. Dozens of Rangers and police personnel manned the wall until the repairs were completed. The additional security measures also impeded the routine meetings of the prisoners with visitors.

The wall is located adjacent to the Government Zubeda Girls College. According to a prison official, three more walls lie between the outer wall and the prisoners' barracks. "There was no threat to security," he claimed.

Meanwhile, a senior army official visited the prison on Monday to review its security arrangements. The army, Rangers, Frontier Constabulary and district police are aiding the jail police in securing the prison.



A total of 191 convicts on death row, including dozens who were affiliated with banned militant organisations, are housed in the jail. The gallows in Hyderabad have been repaired and the jail authorities are ready to carry out executions as soon as the black warrants are issued. The last hanging to take place in Hyderabad Central Jail was on January 17, 2007, when Muhammad Sharif Chishti, a triple murder convict, was executed.

Now after eight years, at least three inmates of the 19th century Central Jail, Hyderabad, are waiting for their black warrants.

These inmates are Sabir Baloch and Shahsawar Baloch, the two convicts of the May 1998 PIA plane hijacking case, and Saleem Francis Maseeh, who was sentenced to death in a rape and murder case in June 2011. These inmates had filed mercy petitions in the presidency but their pleas were dismissed, according to jail officials.

Jail officials said that three wards, Al-Mansur Ward, Security Ward 3 and Ward 5, have been prepared to keep those inmates whose black warrants will be issued. The armed forces took control of the prison's internal security on Thursday. The Frontier Constabulary, Rangers and District police in addition to the jail police are also deployed.

Daniel Pearl convict

The convict in the murder case of US journalist Daniel Pearl, Omar Ahmed Saeed Shaikh, was allowed a meeting - his second since October this year - with his father, Ahmed Saeed Shaikh, who flew from London, United Kingdom, to meet his son facing the death penalty.

According to jail officials, the meeting took place under stringent security supervision. "He asked Omar about his health and informed him about the wellbeing of his family [which is settled in London]," the official told The Express Tribune. "He wasn't allowed a solitary meeting."

Ahmed spoke to the media after the meeting. "We felt worried about his life after the Peshawar incident as pressure grew to hang convicts on death penalty," he said. He expressed, however, hope of justice from the Sindh High Court where his son's appeal is pending.

Omar was sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court in Karachi in 2002. His three associates, Shaikh Adil, Fahad Naseem and Salman Saqib, were sentenced with life imprisonment. All four men have been incarcerated in the central jail.

Omar's appeal against the verdict is pending hearing in the SHC. Earlier this year, the SHC issued a stringent warning to Omar to appear before the court.

The warning was followed by a foiled suicide attempt by Omar on February 13. He tried to hang himself from the ventilator but the prison police thwarted his move.

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