HARIPUR, April 2: Provincial Law Minister Malik Zafar Azam has said the MMA government is committed to taking steps for the welfare of prisoners and improving conditions of prisons.

He was talking to inmates during a brief visit to central jail here on Friday. He was accompanied by MPA Waqar Ahmed Chamkani and local leaders of the MMA.

The minister said the provincial government was aware of the problems being faced by the prison authorities and had evolved a strategy to improve jail conditions and provide facilities to the prisoners.

In this regard, Mr Azam said, the government had decided to facilitate release of the 112 prisoners of Hazara division who had completed their jail terms but were still behind bars as they did not have financial resources to pay Qasas or Diyat.

The government, he added, would arrange this amount from the Zakat fund. However, the minister exhorted philanthropists to extend financial support to such prisoners.

Mr Azam said the government was also considering legal provisions for the release of women prisoners below 18 and above 60 years.

He said funds were being allocated for raising the boundary wall of prison to 18ft, while construction of a mosque in Mansehra jail, setting up of a library, an extra ward and medicines for Abbottabad jail, facilities of gas and electricity in all the jails of the province would be ensured.

About excavation of minerals in Hazara, Malik Azam said the government was planning to provide electricity and construct roads up to the mines so that the mineral resources could be exploited for the economic turnaround of the province.