ISLAMABAD, Aug 23: To ease the burden on Adiala Jail, which is housing 6,000 prisoners against its capacity of 2,000, a modern prison of international standard will be constructed shortly in the federal capital.

As many as 1,300 to 1,400 accused from Islamabad are languishing in Adiala jail.

Talking to Dawn on Saturday, Senate’s Standing Committee on Interior Chairman Mohammad Talha Mehmood said a subcommittee of the Senate body headed by him was in the process of identifying land for the project in consultation with the relevant authorities. He said the process would be completed in the next one week, adding that the committee would hold meetings with the chief commissioner Islamabad, chief of the National Police Bureau and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman before it finalised the land for construction of the jail.

The senator said the committee had so far found the area close to the Police Lines feasible for the construction of jail.

He said according to a feasibility study, a piece of land measuring 40-50 acres would be required for construction of jail in Islamabad having the capacity to house 2,000 prisoners. He said the proposed jail would have separate prison for women. He was confident that the CDA would allot a piece of land for building the jail as early as possible.

Talha Mehmood said he held a meeting with the sessions judge Islamabad Rafiuz Zaman on Saturday to discuss with him matters pertaining to building a separate jail for the capital and speeding up hearing of cases of persons involved in minor crimes and the difficulties being faced in this connection.

Senators Abdul Khaliq Pirzada and Tahira Latif accompanied him.

The committee members were surprised to know that there were 22,000 pending cases in the federal capital, with only nine civil judges appointed to deal with them. The members suggested increase in the number of civil judges to speed up disposal of cases.

Senator Mehmood said the world had now become global village and the time had come to benefit from modern technology. He said video conferencing could be used for hearing of cases.

The sessions judge Islamabad told members of the Senate body that cases of different nature were heard in Adiala jail once a month. The members suggested that the frequency be increased to once a week so that cases of minor crimes could be disposed of as soon as possible.

The members observed that not only in Adiala jail, but in the jails throughout the country had prisoners more than their capacity. They said in most of the cases, the hearing was yet to start.

The committee members were shocked to see that hearing of cases was taking place in verandas, which was not only a massive security risk but also against the prestige of the judiciary.

The senators also noted that separate building for district courts of the federal capital was highly essential. They noted that provision of good working environment and better privileges was necessary to improve the performance of lower judiciary.

Senator Mehmood underlined the need for finding out solution to the problems and warned against matters of vital importance becoming victim of red tape. He said he would continue his personal efforts for early establishment of jail in Islamabad.