PESHAWAR: Prisons and judicial lockups in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have become overcrowded as the number of prisoners has exceeded the sanctioned capacity.

An official reply submitted to the provincial assembly on Monday said a total of 9,433 inmates have been languishing in the province’s 22 prisons and judicial lockups, whose capacity was 8,091.

According to a document circulated during the question hour, the province has four central jails, 10 district jails, four sub-jails and four judicial lockups.

The authorised accommodation in central jail Peshawar is 850 but the men and women kept there total 2,227.

Over 9,000 people kept there against the capacity of 8,091

The capacity of Central Jail Haripur is 1597, while the number of prisoners is 1892.

The sanctioned capacity of judicial lockup Swabi is 70 but the current number of inmates is 425.

Similarly, the capacity of Lakki Marwat district jail is 99 but presently, 227 people are languishing there.

The district jails in Swat and Abbottabad are under construction, while expansion of Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan prisons are in progress.

MPA Najma Shaheen of JUI-F, who moved the question, insisted the figures provided in the house were inaccurate.

She said the condition of prisons and lockups was deplorable.

However, law and parliamentary affairs minister Imtiaz Shahid claimed prisons were in perfect condition and that facilities were being provided to inmates according to the jail menu.

He said he recently inspected the Peshawar central jail and found that all facilities including healthcare were available to prisoners.

The minister said Rs6.4 million had been provided to prisons for the current financial year for provision of health facilities.

The question was referred to the house’s relevant committee for examination.

Replying to a question, health minister Shahram Tarakai said the department had advertised 393 posts of medical specialists but only 256 people applied for them and 164 of them were shortlisted.

“The department will re-advertise these posts to fill vacant posts of specialist doctors in hospitals,” he said.

Earlier, the assembly demanded that the United Nations take notice of the Indian aggression along the Working Boundary and the killing of civilians in it.

The house condemned the Indian shelling on Pakistani civilians living along the Working Boundary.

The resolution, which was unanimously passed, regretted the silence of the UN and other international organisations over the violation of Working Boundary by India and pushed them into taking serious notice of it for necessary action.

PPP MPA Nighat Orakzai moved the resolution, which also expressed solidarity with the armed forces and asked the UN to ensure immediate halt to the atrocities of Indian troops.

Meanwhile, a resolution moved by PPP MPA Sardar Hussain Shah demanded of the government to provide wheat at half price to the flood-hit people in Chitral district.

The MPA said the World Food Programme commitment to provide food items to affected population for two months was inadequate and therefore, the period should be increased.

He feared there would be a food crisis in the coming seasons if the federal government and UN bodies didn’t ensure supply of food rations to the people of Chitral.

Another resolution moved by Mufti Said Janan of JUI-F called for the dignified return of internally displaced persons to their homes in Fata from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The mover said displaced people had been suffering from different diseases and facing several problems.

Earlier, PTI MPA Shaukat Ali Yousafzai presented the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015 in the house.

Also, the assembly passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2015 moved by Nighat Orakzai.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2015

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