HARIPUR, March 27 A young prisoner, who was until recently on death row, has obtained his second masters degree during his sentence in the Haripur jail, official sources told Dawn here on Friday.

Sohail Fida, 24, a resident of Mingora, Swat, was a 1st year student when he was sentenced to death in a murder case in July 2002. He acquired Higher Secondary School Certificate (FA) during his trial in April 2000. He got BA degree in 2005 and did MA in International Relations in 2007 from Hazara University.

The young man, who was a juvenile when he was awarded capital punishment, has now passed his exam in MA History and stood 5th among all the candidates of the Hazara University.

He also did courses of Urdu and Arabic proficiency and seized the opportunity of improving his written and spoken skills in English during his daily interaction with some foreigners in the jail.

Sohail Fida, whose death sentence has been commuted into life term, was now working on his biography “The Phoenix”, which a Karachi-based publisher has offered to publish.

Mr Fida was given B-class in Haripur jail owing to his extraordinarily good conduct and educational achievements and was also extending his services as teacher in the juvenile section of the prison.

TWO KILLED Two persons were killed and two others including a girl were injured in two different road accidents on Friday evening.

Eyewitnesses and police said that a speeding passenger wagon hit a Suzuki pick up on Sera-i-Nehmat Khan road near Pharhala village, injuring Suzuki driver Pola Khan, Banaras and a six years old Asma.

The injured were removed to DHQ hospital where the doctors pronounced the driver dead.

In another incident, an Afghan boy was run over by a speeding car on GT road near village Panian.