HYDERABAD: Prison officials have raised serious concerns over jails’ security along with identifying 127 ‘soft targets’ located within the limits of Hyderabad police range, which may become easy targets for saboteurs.

The officials were discussing jails’ security and soft targets in Hyderabad and other districts of lower Sindh at a routine meeting recently held in divisional headquarters of Pakistan army.

Officers of Hyderabad central prison, Sindh Prisons Staff Training Institute, Nara prison, SSP and officials of law-enforcement agencies concerned shared information with each other over security issues.

Sources privy to the meeting defined ‘soft targets’ as mosques, schools, parks, places of worship of religious minorities, hospitals etc. Private schools, Ismaili community’s jamaat khanas in Latifabad and city, Ahmadi community’s place of worship, shrine of Sakhi Abdul Wahab Shah Jilani, Qadamgah Maula Ali and Shahbaz building were among the 127 ‘soft targets’.

The meeting suggested deployment of Frontier Constabulary inside jails in the Hyderabad police range which comprised Hyderabad, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Dadu, Nawabshah and Badin.

The meeting proposed a joint security audit and reconnaissance by police and Rangers for likely ‘soft targets’. The managements of the ‘soft targets’ would be asked to arrange their security as per Sindh Security of Vulnerable Establish­ments Ordinance promulgated in 2015, failing which they might face legal action, said a source.

Officers identified some weak areas and deficiencies in the security of the central jail where a large number of prisoners associated with banned outfits and some high-profile convicts and undertrial prisoners were lodged. About 20 more prisoners were recently shifted to the jail, said the source. He said the Sindh government was considering raising a bomb-proof boundary wall around the colonial-era prison. The meeting was informed that construction material brought into the prison was not scanned since the jail had no scanner. The jail officers proposed screening of residential areas around the central prison by Special Branch, he said.

The meeting was informed about overcrowding in the jail and said accommodation for 300 to 400 more inmates could be created after new construction in the prison whose sanctioned strength was 1,527 while the current jail population stood at 2,400.

The sources said that there were no detectors and survey for the installation of 120 closed-circuit television cameras had been carried out but the cameras had not been installed yet.

The meeting urged police to conduct round-the-clock patrolling and make an armoured personnel carrier (APC) available at the front gate of the prison. The APC was at present undergoing repairs while the prison’s training institute also faced security issues, said the sources.

The sources said the Nara prison had a population of around 550 inmates at present but it did not match the security level of the central jail. Its administration wanted to set up police pickets as it was currently managing its own security. The jail had a batch of 120-130 trainees including officers and low-ranked staff to run affairs. They did not have required arms and ammunition, said the sources.

Published in Dawn February 7th, 2017