KARACHI, April 13: Three members of the Senate’s committee on human rights on Tuesday visited the Dadu jail as part of their exercise to look at prevailing conditions in Sindh’s prisons and submit recommendations for their reforms. The team comprised the leader of the opposition in the Senate, Raza Rabbani, of the People’s Party Parliamentarians and senators Nighat Mirza Hina and advocate Abida Saif of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

They had earlier visited women’s, juvenile and central prisons in Karachi, besides Jamshoro and Sukkur jails, to find out what steps were required for institutionalizing jail reforms.

Recently, the Senate’s committee on human rights, headed by Senator S. M. Zafar, held a meeting on jails for necessary recommendations for their improvement.

The meeting, which was also attended by provincial police chiefs of all the provinces, decided to appoint a team of senators to visit jails and submit a report to the committee by April 16. The team’s report would then be incorporated in the comprehensive report of the committee for recommending to the provinces necessary reforms.

The visit came at a time when there are serious complaints of police excesses and corruption of jail staff, besides excesses against inmates, especially women. There are also reports of police and jail officials’ excesses against journalists writing against their corruption.

The team members are understood to have taken note of press reports about a journalist’s torture for writing a report against the acting superintendent of the Karachi Central Prison.

During their visit to different prisons in Sindh, the senators noted that non-production of under-trial prisoners on the pretext of non-availability of police escort and other reasons was causing serious problems. Lack of adequate facilities for inmates to meet their relatives was obvious.