PESHAWAR, May 31: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has demanded of the government to do something more for the early rehabilitation of the prisoners hospitalized in Peshawar after their arrival from Afghanistan.

An HRCP fact-finding team, which conducted a survey of the militant prisoners admitted to the Lady Reading Hospital, had released a partial report on the pathetic conditions of the ailing detenus misguided in the name of Jihad and taken to Afghanistan in October last year.

In its brief report, the HRCP has drawn the attention of the government towards the plight of Pakistanis who are detained in hospitals after being released from Afghanistan prisons.

The report suggest that the plight of these people imprisoned first in Afghanistan jails and now detained in Pakistan demand consideration and appropriate action in several areas.

According to the report, most of the prisoners at the Peshawar hospital had been imprisoned in the Shibergan jail in Afghanistan where they were kept in indescribably appalling conditions. During their transportation from one place to another, they were stuffed in containers. Many died of suffocation and many of the survivors were incapacitated and their food ration was extremely meagre.

A majority of the young men, the report claimed, who went to fight in Afghanistan seemed to belong to the interior of Punjab. A large number of them had been studying in seminaries and most of them had been motivated to join the Jihad by their teachers.

“Those admitted to the hospital were found to be suffering from mild to severe health problems like malnutrition and dysentry. Other afflictions include: tuberculosis, diarrhoea, respiratory, urine and stool problems, allergies, itching and fungal infection,” the report said.

Some of the prisoners also narrated their sufferings.

Sajjad, from Gujranwala, is only about 18 years old. He spent six months in Shibergan jail. He has caught TB and is severely malnourished. His teacher persuaded him to go to Jihad.

Shahzad Aslam, of Faisalabad, comes from a well-to-do family. His father and one brother are in Saudi Arabia.

He, too, stayed in Shibergan jail for six months. He is grateful to Red Cross for delivering medicine in jail.

Ali Asghar from Shiekhupura and Aminullah from Karachi aired the same feelings. Some of the prisoners expressed satisfaction over the treatment being provided to them.