KARACHI: The launch of the book Dunya Ke Tarikhi Quaid Khanay Aur Inn Mein Quaid Numaya Shakhsiat(Historic Prisons of the World and their Prominent Prisoners), a thick research work of 430 pages by Rafiq Baloch, on Friday brought up mention of many jails, including the dungeons of the Mughal era, the former British colonial island prison Kaala Paani, Machh Jail in Balochistan, and so many other prisons in other countries of the world.

The launching ceremony was organised at the office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

Speaking on the occasion, academic, journalist and human rights activist Dr Tauseef Ahmed Khan said that during the Mughal era, many would be sent to the dungeons never to return. “But modern prisons as we know them today came to us from colonial times,” he said.

“These days, instead of being arrested and sent to jail, we are also hearing so much about the ‘missing persons’. We don’t even know where they are kept. The British colonial jail of Kaala Paani, on an island, was also something similar because you were not expected to return from there. Most people who raised their voices in favour of freedom from the British would be sent to Kaala Paani,” he added.

Book on historic jails, their prominent inmates launched

Coming to the prominent prisoners mentioned in the book, he said that throughout major movements in history, people belonging to the Left have been imprisoned. He also said that the book, a valuable piece of research, should be very helpful for more researchers in the future.

Senior journalist and activist Sohail Sangi said that the book reminds him of his own days of confinement of over two months. “Had I read this book back then, it would have served me as a training manual, helping me to know what to expect while in jail, where, thankfully, I was not tortured,” he said, adding that during confinement due to a conflict outside, one also becomes aware in isolation of the conflicts within oneself.

Journalist and social activist Mahnaz Rahman said that as a young journalist some years ago, she often dreamed of being sent to jail. “I saw it as heroic with your credentials increasing after being put behind bars. But I remember airing my wish to the socialist politician Meraj Muhammed Khan, who scared me by telling me about jail cells being full of beetles which bite,” she laughed.

“My knowledge of prisons was confined to high walls and iron bars, which I had seen in movies but I’m happy to find such a well-researched book on prisons in Urdu,” she said, adding that prisons should not be places to just lock up culprits as a punishment. It should be a place that can rehabilitate them and help them turn over a new leaf.

Dr Riaz Shaikh, dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Szabist, said that he has read the book from cover to cover to find that it includes prisons and prisoners from this part of the world as well as the West.

“Many prisoners have also helped bring positive changes, including certain facilities for prisoners after airing the problems they faced behind bars,” he said. “Most prisons in the West are correctional facilities,” he said. “Although the British who followed this rule broke it in their colonies to harshly punish individuals who aired ideas of freedom,” he added.

The author of the book, Rafiq Baloch, said that when thinking of writing the book, he had humanity, oppression and belief on his mind. “Yes, prisons are for culprits and wrongdoers but unfortunately prisons are also used as a weapon to silence freedom of speech. But you can imprison a body, not freedom of speech,” he said.

Finally, HRCP Chairperson Asad Iqbal Butt, who was presiding over the programme, mentioned names such as Idris Khattak, Mahrang Baloch and Junaid Hafeez, who, sadly, are all behind bars today because they raised their voice against injustice, he said.

Qazi Khizar, the HRCP’s vice chairperson, also spoke.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2026