HYDERABAD, Nov 26: In order to check the growing lawlessness and unrest in the central prison of Hyderabad, the jail authorities with the help of law enforcement agencies personnel launched a search operation and shifted 50 under trial prisoners to the Karachi central prison on Monday.

They claimed that they have recovered four juvenile offenders, who were being subjected to sodomy by the political prisoners and kept as their Bardashti (servant), four cellular phones, 109-packets of heroin and other banned electronic items.

Jail superintendent Malik Altaf Awan has described the operation as an attempt to break the parallel administration, established by the so-called political prisoners, who had been exploiting the name of ordinary prisoners in order to protect their own interests.

The operation began at midnight on Monday and was still continuing with the jail and police officials conducting searches in the barracks, expecting recovery of more banned items and narcotics.

Those who shifted to Karachi included PPP-SB Ameer Bux Umrani, Ghaffar Chandio, Hassan Rajjar and Faqir Inayat Hisbani.

The operation was launched after the prison chief found it difficult to run the prison in accordance with the jail manual. Four juvenile prisoners, who were taken by some so-called political prisoners, were also rescued by the officials, the jail superintendent said.

The prisoners were holding meetings inside the jail without any hindrance.

Four cellular phones were recovered from the ward where four PPP-SB activists incarcerated. A tear-gas shell was also recovered from a barrack, occupied by the activists of Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the jail superintendent said adding that the prisoners offered no resistance.

Briefing newsmen, the jail superintendent claimed that there was a great lawlessness inside the jail and added that he had held a meeting with so-called political prisoners, asking them to better mend their ways as they would be provided all the facilities, permissible under the manual. He said that he, however, did not see any change in the attitude of these prisoners and finally had to shift them to the Karachi central jail.

He was of the view that there was no political prisoner in jail and maintained that there were hardly 13 to 14 prisoners who were given the B-class from the court of law.

He claimed that when he took over, the political prisoners had a free access to the office block, holding frequent meetings for longer durations with their friends and family members without any hindrance.

These prisoners were using cellular phones and having raw materials for cooking food in their barracks, he said.

He said that these prisoners were holding the jail administration as hostage and the subordinate jail officials were quite reluctant to raise their voice against them.

He also admitted that the lower staff was working in league with the stronger groups of the prisoners because these jail officials feel insecure when they go out of jail, expecting reprisals if they dared to resist the so-called political prisoners.

He pointed out that he had carried out some reshuffling of the officials and taken action against some 18 of them.

He said that if any jail official was found guilty of wrong doing he would be taken to task which also includes his transfer from the Hyderabad jail to any other prison of the province.

He charged that the prison had become sanctuary for criminals and added that all these so-called political prisoners were using ordinary prisoners, who had no forum to raise their voice, as tools.

He disclosed that a similar group of law breakers was also involved in the killing of Hyderabad jail medical superintendent Dr. Ghulam Ali Sheikh, who died of head injuries at a Karachi hospital.

He was ruthlessly beaten up by unidentified persons within the jurisdiction of Market police station by activists of a nationalist party two weeks back.

He expressed the hope that the members of judiciary would also endorse his initiatives which were aimed at bringing some improvement in the jail.