KARACHI, Aug 26: The Sindh government has not yet initiated work on the expansion of a half-a-century-old lock-up on the premises of the City Courts following assurances made in this regard by top-ranking government officials.

On the directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Home Secretary Brig (retd) Ghulam Mohammad Mohtaram, Special Home Secretary Rasheed Alam and IG Prisons Mohammad Yameen Khan had visited the undertrial prisoners’ lock-up in the City Courts on Aug 15 and pledged that work on its expansion would start within a week.

An engineer who accompanied them was asked to prepare the design of the lock-up. They had also held a meeting with the office-bearers of the Karachi Bar Association and discussed with them the lawyers’ problems.

Though the officials and KBA leaders had agreed to remove canteens No 1 and 2, including cabins, to expand the lock-up, the work never started.

Besides, the bar representatives were informed that the government had provided 35 vehicles to the court police across the province, including three vehicles to the Karachi Courts police, for the transportation of undertrials. However, sources said the vehicles could not serve the purpose as they were not being used for undertrials’ transportation for unknown reasons.

KBA President Iftikhar Javaid Qazi told Dawn that the officials had promised to start the work within a week but failed to do so. He said that they had just wanted to assure the Supreme Court that they had complied with its directives. He said the bar association was ready to cooperate with the officials in the best interest of people in general and of lawyers in particular.

The official in charge of the lock-up, Khalid Jameel, told Dawn: “I have managed to renovate the lock-up and make all its five washrooms usable for the inmates.” However, he said that at least 13 more rooms were required in the lock-up.