The dramatic hostage crisis unfolding in the Central Prison Larkana has entered its eighth day. On Thursday, five of the seven policemen taken hostage last week were set free, with authorities trying everything they can to defuse the situation. But the events leading up to this week-long hostage drama can be traced as far back as the summer of 2021.

IT all began with an allegedly-crooked jail superintendent. On July 7, 2021, the Sindh Home Department suspended Central Prison Larkana’s Superintendent Liaquat Pirzado and the very next day, a riot broke out. Apparently, the inmates were not happy and they expressed themselves all too freely.

This went on for three days, until a new jail superintendent was appointed and the disorder inside the prison was only quelled upon the intervention of Sukkur region’s deputy inspector general of police for prisons.

According to the new superintendent, Ashfaque Kalwar, under Pirzado’s watch Larkana jail’s inmates were allowed free use of contraband items such as mobile phones, illicit drugs, alcohol and possibly weapons, alongside other amenities that are banned from lockup.

Kalwar’s press release, issued on July 30, also claimed that prisoners were using mobile phones as a propaganda tool to seek the sympathies of citizens in general, particularly media personnel.

The statement said that inmates were trying to blackmail the jail administration to allow a steady flow of contraband items into the prison, which were allegedly freely provided to them by the suspended jail superintendent. When this was refused, the prisoners rioted and refused to return to their barracks. This situation lasted from July 26 to 30.

Remember that contraband is currency in prison, and Larkana central is no ordinary jail either — it is one that suffers from chronic overcrowding. Kalwar claimed the prison he inherited housed 1,033 inmates against a sanctioned capacity of 650. These included 111 persons on death row, 344 serving life sentences, 94 convicts, 482 under-trial prisoners and two foreigners.

In an effort to bring the situation in the prison under control, the administration decided to get rid of some troublemakers and on Jan 12, 2022, 13 prisoners — Salman Jatoi, Wajid Jatoi, Abdullah Jagirani, Muhammad Ali Khokhar, Bashir aka Shabrani, Wazir aka Khaqan Kalhoro, Ali Muhammed Kalhoro, Ghulam Sarwar Jatoi, Niaz Hussain Solangi, Qaisar Zangijo, Qurban Ali Abro, Zamir Hussain Jatoi and Muhammed Pariyal Abro — were shifted to different jails around Sindh.

According to a jail official, these were the ring leaders who had been fomenting problems in Larkana central. But this move did not go unnoticed, and the prisoners immediately lashed out, refusing to return to barracks and running amok. Things grew so tense that jail authorities had to disconnect the electricity supply to the barracks.

Sources say the prisoners in Larkana central possess at least 1,500 mobile phones, and are in regular contact with their people on the outside. They rule the roost, refusing to attend court hearings and bribing or coercing jail officials into smuggling in narcotics for them.

To counter this, last month prison authorities registered cases against 25 prisoners who had not turned up for regular court hearings. They also booked a number of policemen for supplying the prisoners with drugs.

This, the authorities thought, would be a masterstroke — killing two birds with one stone. After all, shifting troublemakers out would provide them time to do essential repair work on the prisoners’ barracks in the hope that this would keep them contained.

The proposed job would take around two and a half months, and the provincial government has already allocated the required funds, waiting for things to calm down. But even the best plans are easily thwarted.

Last week, inmates took 10 policemen hostage, protesting the administration’s refusal to take back Mohammad Ali Khokhar, one of the 13 troublemakers shifted to Jacobabad.

During his court appearance, it had been directed that he be kept in Larkana, but Khokhar had already been shifted to another jail. When the situation was conveyed to the court concerned, it withdrew its order. Subsequently the Sukkur prisons DIG ordered him to be shifted to Shikarpur prison, the senior superintendent of Larkana central told Dawn.

This obviously didn’t sit well with the inmates, who revolted on Feb 4 and took seven jail policemen hostage.

Now, it is no secret that the inmates have connections in political circles, and on previous occasions notables from the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) as well as the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have had to intervene to settle things down.

Late on Wednesday night, vice president of PPP’s chapter for Larkana taluka, Asif Jatoi, was said to be in talks with the protesting inmates, trying to get them to call off their protest, but to no avail.

Kalwar, however, is standing his ground. In a video message released on Thursday, the jail superintendent declared the prisoners’ demands “illegal”, saying that he was set on implementing the jail manual in letter and spirit.

On Thursday, a week after the policemen were taken prisoner, their relatives demonstrated outside the prison’s outer gate. Worried sick about their family members who had been trapped for seven days, the protesters criticised the inflexibility being shown by the superintendent, which had led to a stalemate in the talks.

Their efforts were rewarded when the prisoners agreed to release five of the men — Imran Zuhrani, Murtaza Junejo, Tarique Rajpar, Shahnawaz Korkani and Daman Jagirani. Rasheed Golo and Abdul Waheed Bhutto, however, are still in their custody, the sources said.

Observers feel that this could be a gesture of goodwill from the prisoners, who may have been conveyed something positive, but officials are understandably reluctant to let on any further information until the powder keg inside Larkana central is neutralised.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2022