PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Monday decided to set up separate jails for women across the province.

Special assistant to chief minister for prisons Mr Shafiullah said a proposal had been floated for setting up women jails under the jail reforms initiative.

He added that a meeting would be convened with the chief minister over the issue.

He said after approval of the CM the home department would prepare a feasibility study to identify suitable locations for the jails.

Mr Shafiullah acknowledged that women inmates were facing difficulties because there were insufficient facilities for them in prisons.

Setting up of women-specific jails is aimed at giving a sense of protection to female inmates languishing in different jails of the province, he added.

The CM’s aide said currently there were 160 women prisoners languishing in different jails, adding 35 of them had been convicted while cases of 125 were under trial in different courts.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2021