LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday issued notices to the Punjab home department and the inspector general of the prisons on a petition of the wife of a man convicted for the murder of MQM leader Imran Farooq challenging the shifting of her husband from Adiala jail to high security prison of Sahiwal.

A trial court of Islamabad had in 2020 awarded life imprisonment to Moazzam Ali on the charges of facilitating the killers of Imran Farooq in London.

Petitioner Sadia Bano approached the court through Advocate Mian Dawood challenging the shifting of her husband from Adiala to Sahiwal jail.

The counsel argued that the shifting of the petitioner’s husband was in violation of Pakistan Prison Rules 1978, the settled legal principles and especially the fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution.

He said the petitioner’s husband was kept

at Adiala jail during

the trial and his

wife and children shifted to Islamabad from Karachi to contest the case.

He argued that the shifting of a prisoner far from the residence of his/her family residence or home town was practically redundant and ineffective under the rules.

He said the petitioner and her children

could not afford a day-long travel from Islamabad to Sahiwal to visit the prisoner fortnightly and the prisoner was also not being provided the legal rights guaranteed under the rules.

The counsel pointed out that the petitioner filed an application to the home department and the inspector general of the prisons against the shifting of her husband from one jail to another but no action had been taken by the respondents.

He asked the court to set aside the transfer of the petitioner’s husband from Adiala jail to Sahiwal jail and order the respondents to shift him back.

After hearing the arguments, Justice Muhammad Amjad Rafiq issued notices to the respondents for submission of their replies by May 15.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2023