PESHAWAR, Jan 27: The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child has appealed to President Pervez Musharraf to order release of children, women and the elderly detained under the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) in the Dera Ismail Khan jail.

A press release issued by Sparc said the society was concerned over the continued illegal detention of children, women and the elderly belonging to the tribe of an alleged criminal under the collective responsibility clause of the FCR. It said that Sparc had sent a letter to the president in this connection, asking him to order release of the detained people.

During a recent fact-finding visit to the central prison in Dera Ismail Khan, the Sparc's team met one of the youngest prisoners, Khyal Bano. Her mother Shireen Bibi is there with her five children - Farzana, 12, Siyal Bano, 7, Zahir Jan, 6, Gul Bano, 4, and Khyal Bano, 2, the letter said.

Gul Sahiba, 55, wife of Saidullah Jan, was also there with her six children - Gul Hira and Gul Zaram Jan, both in their early teens, Ghulam Hussain, 9, Shah Hussain, 6, and Mohammad Hussain, 4. Their elder brother Eid Badshah, 13, was away in the juvenile section with four other juvenile inmates from the same tribe.

It said that a 70-year-old woman, Darmeena, wife of Gul Jan, along with Mukhtiar Bibi, 30, were also languishing in jail. "I even don't have teeth to eat food and they have put me in jail for three years for a crime I have no idea about," the press release quoted Darmeena as telling the Sparc team.

Eighty-year-old Wazir Khan, who can't walk unaided, was also in the same prison under the same law and for the same term. Taj Bibi, wife of Gul Marjan, while narrating her story, said: "Our children have been deprived of their schooling and lodged in prison."

All these women and children were arrested and sentenced to jail terms since they belonged to the tribe of an outlaw, Arsal Khan, of the Betani clan. Their only crime is that they are Betani.

The detention of these women and children was against all norms of humanity and civilised society, and all national and international laws, including the Constitution of Pakistan, the letter said. The society has asked the president to immediately get all innocent children, women and the elderly freed from all the Frontier jails.