SARGODHA, June 26: As unrest persists in the Sargodha district jail after the recent clash, the prisoners and the general public have certain doubts about the judicial and departmental inquiries being conducted to fix responsibility.

PML district head Haji Muhammad Aslam, while talking to this correspondent on Sunday, asked how could the inquiry be impartial if it was conducted in the presence of the suspected jail officials.

He said he had personally visited the prison on the day of riot upon the request of police and found out some irregularities. He said jail superintendent Razaullah Khan and deputy superintendent Afzal Munir had been given out-of-turn promotions despite lacking experience.

The two officials, he said, also lacked administrative experience as they failed to control mob during the recent protest.

Haji Aslam, a former MNA, further noted that at least 1,900 people had been confined to barracks, though the jail could accommodate not more than 350 inmates.

He observed that there was no proper arrangement for electric fans while even drinking water was short and the food served to the inmates was prepared in unhygienic conditions.

Meanwhile, District Nazim Malik Amjad Ali Noon has directed the jail authorities to ensure supply of potable water and provision of other facilities to the inmates. He has asked the jail staff not to torture or humiliate any inmate for demanding a legitimate right.

An insider told Dawn that the influential and well-to-do prisoners were being provided even those facilities which were prohibited under the jail manual. Law was meant only for the poor captives, he added.

The jail higher-ups, said the insider, had been earning a lot under the food provision head.

He agreed with the inmates that an impartial inquiry was very difficult in the prevailing conditions. He, however, said DIG (Prisons) Abdus Sattar Aijaz, who is probing the issue, was a man of integrity.

Meanwhile, judicial magistrate Hafiz Tariq Ahmad has also started a probe.