LAHORE, Oct 21: Jails Minister Saeed Akbar Niwani must be credited for the half-truth he spoke about the state of corruption in his ‘empire’.

“It may be a theft, but not a dacoity”, he said of the corruption in prisons while answering a question in the Punjab Assembly on Saturday. Though he grossly understated the situation, it was rather unexpected of a minister to admit that something wrong was taking place in his department.

The leader from Bhakkar, whose rivalry with the Shahanis led to the resignation of Naeemullah Shahani as minister for sports, also admitted that prisons were overcrowded and even death cells were being shared by the condemned prisoners.

The minister will agree that both theft and dacoity are crimes for which the law prescribes specific punishments. But despite knowing what is happening in his department, he has not sacked any of the ‘thieves’ working under him.

Ostensibly, this means that either whatever corruption is being committed is condoned by the minister, or he doesn’t have the power to show the ‘thieves’ the door.

To be fair, many say that it’s beyond any minister to change the situation prevailing in the prisons. These places have become a market where you can buy anything for a price. Name anything and you’ll get it —- but you will have to pay for it. Hardened criminals may be the most looked-after figures on these premises.

Prison conditions may have brought about some positive changes in an odd convict’s or an under-trial prisoner’s life, but in many cases, hardened criminals’ arrogance and rudeness do not diminish even if they are to be hanged the next day.

Long ago, Ghiasa, a notorious outlaw, was awarded the capital punishment. The date and time of his execution had been set. The then government allowed some reporters to interview the condemned prisoner about 12 hours before his execution. This writer was among them. Superintendent Masood Qureshi was also with the reporters and listening to what Ghiasa was saying.

“Ghiasa, what will you do in case some miracle takes place and you are set free immediately?’ asked this writer.

“I’ll first kill this man “, he said, pointing his finger at the superintendent, and then try to lead a peaceful life. Then, if the society lets me live peacefully, I’ll adjust myself. Otherwise Ghiasa I already am”.

He was not at all afraid of being executed. He also did not explain why he wanted to kill the superintendent, although there must have been a reason in his mind.

Then I asked Mr Qureshi about his feelings when he hanged somebody. “Nothing. For us, it’s a routine matter,” replied the superintendent. We were shocked to learn that he had admittedly hanged some 1,600 people thus far.

The situation in prisons remains unchanged. There’s hardly any shift in the attitude of the jailers and the prisoners.

Many interesting things would have come to light if the legislators had not wasted all their time asking a few frivolous and senseless supplementary questions of the minister. One wonders as to why the time for the question-and-answer session is not increased; many good questions on the agenda could not be asked, and the minister did not break any sweat to answer them.

From the written answers it transpired that in prisons even today i.e. some 25 years after the introduction of the decimal system, the system of “chattanks and annas” is being used. For example, while mentioning the diet provided to a prisoner it was stated in a document that he would be given four eggs worth two “annas”. Only the prison authorities or their minister might know exactly what to make of the old monetary and weighing units.

It was established on Friday that the treasury members followed the instructions of the chief minister, whether he was home or abroad. The third reading of a bill about the registration of religious seminaries was going on when a member of the opposition pointed out the house was not in quorum. The head count proved him true. However, within five minutes the treasury members in the lobby came back to the house, completing the quorum and enabling the chair to resume proceedings.

The chief minister would have faced tremendous embarrassment if the news of his return from a two-week foreign visit and the ruling party’s failure to maintain quorum had appeared simultaneously in Saturday’s newspapers.