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August 03, 2006
Is anyone listening?
The decision to free 1,300 women prisoners on bail has been hailed as a historic moment with regard to the state of women’s rights in our country. The eligibility criteria for the release favour those women who have been imprisoned under the Hudood laws or offences other than those of terrorism.
Out of the 32 jails in Punjab, women were imprisoned in about 20 of them. Only those women who were involved in crimes having less than a ten-year imprisonment term were to be granted bail on personal bonds to facilitate their immediate release. Those detained for heinous crimes like murder, terrorism, arms or narcotics smuggling were not eligible for this facility under the amended law.
Asma Jahangir, chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, pointed out that a similar relief measure was introduced during Benazir Bhutto’s tenure and the current action taken by the present government does nothing to address the flaws present in the legal system. The need of the hour is a complete repeal of the Hudood Ordinances that lead to the unjust detention of hundreds of women each year.
This statement came in direct consequence of the 94 women prisoners that were released from the different jails in Punjab on July 10. Of the 124 women at the Kot Lakhpat jail, eight were released and 14 more were to be freed. About 15 women were freed from Faisalabad, five from Sheikhupura, 34 from Sialkot, 25 from Sahiwal and seven from Gujranwala jails. The Punjab minister for jails, Saeed Akbar Khan Niwani was quoted as saying that of the 700 women languishing in jails across the province about 350 would benefit from the amended law.
In a similar league, the next day around 27 women prisoners were released from the Central Jail in Rawalpindi. About 106 under-trial women prisoners benefited from the changed law here. The Inspector General of Prisons Punjab, Captain (retd) Sarfaraz Ahmad Mufti, stated that 555 out of a total of 710 women prisoners have moved applications for bail to the competent courts. The first phase of this operation was followed by the release of 363 women prisoners on July 25. Out of a total of 710 inmates, 134 women prisoners are confined in the Central Jail Rawalpindi, 124 female inmates are in Central Jail, Lahore. District Jail Faisalabad currently holds 54 women prisoners and about the same number of prisoners are confined in the Women Jail, Multan.
| The fortunate ones | |||||||||||||||||||||
| According to DIG Salik Jalal, who has been appointed Liaison Officer to coordinate with all relevant authorities to ensure immediate compliance of the ordinance, as of July 25, a total of 363 women prisoners have been released so far. Even if we round off the figure to around 400, there are 900 women still awaiting freedom. Region Number of female prisoners released
—S.S. |
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