October 22, 2008	Wednesday	Shawwal 22, 1429

KARACHI, Oct 21: In the backdrop of the recent rioting incidents in different prisons in the province, the Sindh government is considering setting up prisoners’ complaint safety commission.

The commission has been suggested to be on the pattern of the police complaints and safety commission, an insider told Dawn.

During the two recent incidents in Karachi, dozens of prisoners took to the rooftops of their barracks in the Central and Malir prisons, where they staged protest demonstrations, torched their beddings, clothes and whatever was available to them. They were protesting against alleged excesses and inhuman treatment meted out to them by prison administrations.

Although the rebellions were quelled after clashes between personnel of law-enforcement agencies and prisoners, they resulted in half-a-dozen deaths and injuries to scores of others.

In reply to a question, an official of the prison department, who didn’t want to be named, conceded that prison reforms had been overdue because of the changing political climate and return of a democratic order, as was also demanded by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

He further said that most complaints were about the slow-pace trial of prisoners, overcrowded prisons, and violation of jail manuals while the attitude of prison authorities also contributed to their grievances, often resulting in provocation of prisoners who refused to give them bribes.

The successive commissions and inquiry reports, prepared after every riot in prisons, did not deny the allegations that resourceful and influential prisoners enjoyed every liberty from using drugs to TV and food facilities from their homes while those who could not pay money were made to suffer torture and abuses.

The PPP, whose workers had faced hardships in prisons when their party was out of power, was considering, even before the recent riots in the prisons, developing permanent mechanism through which grievances of prison inmates could be redressed.

LG system

The Sindh government has constituted a provincial working group (PWG) to review the existing local government system, it has been learnt.

The PWG held its first meeting on Tuesday, which was presided over by the provincial chief secretary and attended by all stakeholders.

Sources said the need for a comprehensive review of the current local system had been felt for quite some time, but it had recently become a major political concern both at the provincial and national levels.

The sources said the review was required not only for the readjustment of the authority of the provincial governments, but also to develop institutional mechanism for improved citizens’ participation and efficient delivery of services.

According to the sources, it was for this reason that the Sindh government had decided to initiate an objective, transparent and inclusive review of its local government system