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| November 1, 2001 | Thursday | Shaba’an 14, 1422 |
No lessons learnt from jail-break
GUJRAT, Oct 31: The Mandi Bahauddin jail-break, which made the Punjab government transfer its Prisons chief, Brig Tauqir Qamar, and suspend 13 jail officials, has not resulted in any measures aimed at improving security.
The escape of 11 prisoners — all charged with kidnapping — has, however, started a debate on conditions in the province’s jails.
The prisoners armed with two mausers and three grenades, returning to jail after appearing before local courts, had taken hostage Abdul Waheed Khan, an assistant superintendent jail, and forced the guards to open the main gate. During their flight, they had also resorted to firing in the air. A constable, Ijaz Ahmad, was injured in a shootout between the police and the fleeing prisoners.
Sources in jail administration said Arshad, Ijaz, Qamar, Ausaf and Jehangir had planned the escape about six weeks ago and had been supplied the weapons about a month ago. Later, Shabbir, Nazir, Nasir Iqbal, M Arshad, Ghulam Azad and Nasir Mahmood, too, joined them.
Three of the fugitives, Ausaf, Jehangir and Ghulam Azad, were arrested within an hour of the jail-break. Another, Qamar Abbas, was arrested the next day from Lahore and his accomplice, Arshad from Chokorry Bheelowal, Dinga.
During interrogation after being re-arrested, Ghulam Azad reportedly said the inhuman behaviour of the jail staff had forced him to risk his life in an escape bid. He said he was routinely tortured by jailers who demanded a Rs5,000 bribe. He said their was no relief until he had arranged a payment of Rs2,000. He also alleged that the jail staff had demanded Rs 5,000 for not sending him to Urni — a punishment under which a prisoner sleeps in a different barracks every night.
Sources said statements of other prisoners were similar. Arshad Niaz alleged that he was given substandard food and was not allowed to see his relatives.
About 1,205 prisoners are being kept at the Mandi Bahauddin jail meant for 291. During a recent visit to the jail, this correspondent noted that the security arrangements were poor. There was only one guard at the main gate and none on any of the four jail towers. The outer wall of the jail had collapsed at several points.
A woman said she had been made to pay Rs5 towards Prisoners’ Welfare Fund but never allowed to meet her husband. Others, too, said the collection was not transparent.
A visitor said his nephew, a prisoner, had been sick for several days, but the jail doctor had neither sent him to hospital nor given him any medicine. This correspondent saw him pay Rs100 to a jail employee and hand him some medicines.
Meanwhile, sources said, some healthy prisoners had been admitted to the six-bed jail hospital on payment of bribes.
The jail canteen overcharged the visitors. Several visitors said the staff were demanding bribes to allow a meeting with a prisoner.
The visitors wondered whether the official visitors, like the district and sessions judge and the district coordination officer, ever paid a surprise visit to jail to detect irregularities in its administration.
SUSPENDED: Those suspended from service were deputy superintendent Pervez Iqbal, assistant superintendents Abdul Waheed Khan and Iqbal Imtiaz, head-constables Asif and M Aslam, head wardens Khalid Pervez, M Anwar and Ahmad Buhksh, doorman Ansar, clerk Akram and guards Wilayat Shah and Ijaz Ahmad.
Superintendent Shaukat Feroz, who was on leave on Oct 24, has been included in the team headed by DIG Abdus Sattar Aajiz to hold a departmental inquiry. Gujrat jail chief Abdul Majeed Qureshi and Rawalpindi jail chief Chaudhry Afzal Khan have been asked to assist the DIG.
SSP Naeem Akram Bhroka, the district police chief reportedly requested the district and sessions judge to order a judicial probe into the incident.
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