QUETTA: Twenty-four convicted prisoners were shifted from the Quetta District Jail to Mach prison late on Saturday night amid tight security.

The decision was made by the Balochistan home and tribal affairs department at a high-level meeting in view of perceived threats of attacks on prisons after the Peshawar school carnage in which Taliban massacred 150 people, mostly students.

“Following the decision, we have shifted 24 high-profile prisoners, who had been sentenced to death by different courts, from district jail Quetta to central jail Mach,” Quetta Jail Superintendent Mohammad Asif Butt told reporters.

Prisoners on death row moved from Quetta because of security fears

Hundreds of personnel of the FC, police, Anti-Terrorist Force, Balochistan Constabulary and Rapid Response Force were deployed in and around the Quetta jail.

They cordoned off the entire area and no one was allowed to enter Jail Road.

“The prisoners were taken to Mach jail in a convoy of security personnel,” officials said, adding that there were 97 death-row convicts in various jails of Balochistan.

They said tight security arrangements were made also in and around the Mach jail during the transfer of the convicts there.

Authorities have already declared Central Jail Mach, District Jail Quetta, District Jail Khuzdar and Gadani jail as very sensitive.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2014