Conspiracy fears: Court case against removal from post
According to the deputy jail superintendent, Haider spent two stints in different capacities at the prison
Aijaz Haider
HYDERABAD:
The slain jail official, Aijaz Haider, had gone to court last month against his removal from the post of Hyderabad jail superintendent. He had held the post for over three months until he was removed on April 23.
Haider, a BPS-19 official, claimed that ex-jailer Pir Shabbir Jan Sarhindi and incharge of the prison hospital, Dr Pir Manzoor Ali, conspired and influenced his removal. He took this position in a petition he filed in Sindh High Court on April 28. Haider also pointed fingers at a lieutenant colonel of Qasim Rangers, Yasir. “The deputy jail superintendent, Majid Akhtar, conveyed the warning to me on behalf of Yasir days before I was removed,” he had claimed in his petition.
“I complained in writing to the jail IG that Dr Ali continues to hold the charge on own-pay-scale basis and that he doesn’t attend the hospital regularly,” Haider told the court, adding that both Sarhindi and Yasir took up the cudgels on the doctor’s behalf. Haider had also challenged his substitution by a BPS-18 jail official, Ziaur Rehman, as the jail superintendent when it is a BPS-19 post.
However, Prisons DIG Muzaffar Alam Siddiqui told The Express Tribune that it would be premature and hasty to say that the reported differences among the officials or any other reason became the cause of his murder. Siddiqui also denied that Haider faced any specific threats from terrorists or any other inmates. “The threats are general to all prison officials. He didn’t face any specific threat to my knowledge.”
According to the deputy jail superintendent, Haider spent two stints in different capacities at the prison. The earlier, and longer, one was during early years after 2000 when he was posted as the deputy superintendent. He was subsequently transferred to Larkana and then other prisons in the province.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 16th, 2015.
The slain jail official, Aijaz Haider, had gone to court last month against his removal from the post of Hyderabad jail superintendent. He had held the post for over three months until he was removed on April 23.
Haider, a BPS-19 official, claimed that ex-jailer Pir Shabbir Jan Sarhindi and incharge of the prison hospital, Dr Pir Manzoor Ali, conspired and influenced his removal. He took this position in a petition he filed in Sindh High Court on April 28. Haider also pointed fingers at a lieutenant colonel of Qasim Rangers, Yasir. “The deputy jail superintendent, Majid Akhtar, conveyed the warning to me on behalf of Yasir days before I was removed,” he had claimed in his petition.
“I complained in writing to the jail IG that Dr Ali continues to hold the charge on own-pay-scale basis and that he doesn’t attend the hospital regularly,” Haider told the court, adding that both Sarhindi and Yasir took up the cudgels on the doctor’s behalf. Haider had also challenged his substitution by a BPS-18 jail official, Ziaur Rehman, as the jail superintendent when it is a BPS-19 post.
However, Prisons DIG Muzaffar Alam Siddiqui told The Express Tribune that it would be premature and hasty to say that the reported differences among the officials or any other reason became the cause of his murder. Siddiqui also denied that Haider faced any specific threats from terrorists or any other inmates. “The threats are general to all prison officials. He didn’t face any specific threat to my knowledge.”
According to the deputy jail superintendent, Haider spent two stints in different capacities at the prison. The earlier, and longer, one was during early years after 2000 when he was posted as the deputy superintendent. He was subsequently transferred to Larkana and then other prisons in the province.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 16th, 2015.