LAHORE: The Inspectorate of Punjab Prisons has recently finalised arrangements for sending another 4,000 jail officials in batches to Azad Kashmir Regimental Centre, Attock, for joining a three-month training course.

Earlier, as many as 2,400 jail officials ranking from warder to the superintendent participated in a one-month training course only involving weapon handling at the same centre during September 2012-13. A batch of 200 officials was sent to the centre each month for training.

Sources privy to the development told Dawn on Sunday that Punjab Inspector General Prisons Mian Farooq Nazeer met the AKRC’s commandant at his office on Sept 12 and finalised the arrangements for training of another 4,000 officials with multiple additions in the revised course.

Dept will pay Rs20,000 per head to Azad Kashmir Centre

They said first batch of 1,000 officials of different ranks would join three-month training from Oct 13, 2014. The inspectorate would pay Rs20,000 for each official under multiple expenditure heads to the centre. Earlier, it had paid Rs10,000 for each trainee.

As many as 3,000 newly-recruited warders and 48 assistant superintendents of jail (ASJs) would join the training course later. Sources said it had become mandatory for newly-recruited officials in any rank to get the same training before practically joining the force.

This time the training would include physical exercises, parades, martial arts, theory and tactics to handle terrorists and anti-state elements in addition to weapon handling and firing. Each official would fire up to 300 rounds during training, sources said, adding trainees would use G 3 and G-V assault rifles, sniper rifle and machine gun during training.

Sources said a coordination office headed by a jail superintendent was also being set up at the centre to look after the matters of trainees and their problems.

They said the training was part of interim arrangements to cover deficiencies of the field force till the establishment of a full-fledged Training Staff College in Sahiwal (under construction), adding 400 jail officials had so far completed elite training course at Elite Police Training School, Baidian, Lahore, and 300 others had participated in Rangers’ commando course.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2014