KARACHI, June 26: A total of 309 women including 243 married, 11 unmarried and 55 widows are confined in various women jails in Sindh, the House was informed by the Chief Minister
, Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim - also holding the portfolio of Home - in a written answer to a question by Ms Nuzhat Pathan, during the question hour session in Sindh assembly on Saturday.
He stated that out of 243 married women, 203 were jailed in Karachi, 21 in Hyderabad and 19 in Larkana, while among the 11 unmarried women, nine were imprisoned in Karachi and two in Hyderabad. And out of the 55 widows, 27 were imprisoned in Karachi, 21 in Hyderabad and seven in Larkana.
He further said that 41 women had been confined with their children in these jails.
Arbab said necessary arrangements had been made for provision of basic religious and primary education to these children in jails with the help of NGOs. "There is a montessory standard school in the women jail of Karachi, where local and foreign ladies teach the children of women inmates," he informed.
To a question by Ms Nasreen Chandio, the chief minister, in his written answer, informed that there was a separate women jail in Karachi named as "special prison for women Karachi", which had about 290 inmates as recorded in September 2003.
He also said there was no provision of keeping women prisoners in Central Prison Karachi or District Jail Malir (Landhi Jail) Karachi, which were exclusively for male prisoners.
Regarding the number of vehicles for transporting prisoners from jail to various courts and back, the chief minister said there was no fix number of vehicles for transporting prisoners from jail to various courts and back. Instead, court productions were being made by the police department, and vehicles were supplied according to daily requisition.
Replying to a volley of supplementary questions, the finance minister informed that the capacity of the women jail was 350, and vehicles were provided to take them to and from courts.
He said vehicles were purchased both last year and this year, while provision had been made for 100 more vehicles for Sindh's jails in this year's budget. A major number of these vehicles would be provided to Karachi's jails, exclusively at the disposal of the jail administrations, he added.
Sardar said the Home Department would be suggested to set aside a couple of vehicles for women prisoners for taking them to courts and back.
To another supplementary question, he said: "Whatever be the nature of crime committed, all women prisoners are kept at the same place."
He told another questioner that proper medical facility was being provided to sick prisoners, while serious cases were referred to civil hospital.
The chief minister Dr Arbab Ghulam denied the fact that narcotics and other drugs were being supplied to prisoners in Sindh's jails.
In a written answer to a question by Nawab Ali Wassan, he stated that the jail administrations had specific rules and system for checking the procurement of unauthorised items by inmates. These rules include; body search of all incoming prisoners and others on entry at the gate by experienced officials; thorough search of articles allowed to inmates before delivery; daily surprise searches of living areas of prisoners, including search of articles and body search; general search of entire jail at least once a month, when all barracks, cells etc are searched besides body search of inmates; intelligence reports through trusted staff and prisoners.
While, Arbab, in a written answer to opposition's Yunus Khan, said the Sindh Home Department had a programme to construct additional accommodation like barracks, cells, working sheds etc on the available land of District Jail Malir.
He stated that the said jail started functioning in 1962. The building of the jail was constructed on 34 acres out of the allotted 122 acres, while residential accommodation occupied four acres, jail garden 10 acres and unconstructed area amounted to 74 acres, he added.
In reply to the question by Mrs Humera Alwani, with regard to increasing the allowance of policemen, Arbab admitted that during financial year 1999, an announcement was made by the government for enhancing the allowances of constables and head constables by Rs1,000.
In this regard, Sindh government had increased the pay and allowances with effect from July 1, 2000 for constables and head constables by Rs430, while case regarding increase of the remaining amount of Rs570 was referred to Finance Department for implementation.
While, Sardar Ahmed, in reply to a supplementary question, said that at present no proposal was under consideration for increasing allowance, adding, the government had already increased salaries and allowances both last year and this year by 15 per cent.
He said an amount of Rs440 million was needed by the government for effecting increase of the remaining amount of Rs570, which it did not have - unless a resolution was passed by the assembly in this regard.
He also said there was no proposal of bringing salaries and allowances of constables and head constables of Sindh at par with those of Punjab. Moreover, he added that he had no knowledge about the difference in salaries and allowances of policemen of both provinces.
Replying to a question by Mrs Humera Alwani, the chief minister, in his written answer, informed the House that Rs198.856 million were spent on maintenance of law and order in Sindh by Rangers during fiscal 2002-03. The amount was borne by Sindh government, he added.
Concerning any proposal to reduce fees of arms licenses, the finance minister, Syed Sardar Ahmed, in reply to Humera Alwani's supplementary question, said the government intended to issue a minimum number of arms licenses, and there was no proposal to reduce the license fees.
Also replying to the question, Arbab, in his written answer, informed the House that there was no such proposal of reducing arms license fees, under consideration by the government, as there was no cogent reason for reducing the same either.
Sardar Ahmed said the government was not giving any incentives, but it was rather considering to enhance the existing fees.
