HYDERABAD: The entire district police is being deployed at the Central Jail Hyderabad to prevent any attempt of jail breaks.
The move came following the violent jail break in Dera Ismail Khan recently.
Earlier DawnNews had reported that in a communiqué sent to the Sindh government, the interior ministry warned of possible attacks on Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur prisons.
After receiving the communiqué, IG Sindh prisons Nusrat Mangan gave instructions for stepping up security at all the prisons.
Talking to Dawn.com, SSP Saqib Memon said that there was an intelligence information that Hyderabad jail would be attacked on the pattern of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He said the information does not name the group which could possibly be behind the attack.
“Police from the entire district is being mobilised for deployment at the central prison. Also, demand for more reinforcement is being put up to authorities,” he further said.
He added that the police deployment was underway for the last two to three hours.
Hyderabad’s central prison is a colonial era jail. It is believed that prisoners belonging to banned outfits are lodged here, including Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was awarded capital punishment in the kidnapping and murder case of US journalist Daniel Pearl.
Co-accussed of this case including, Salman Saqib, Fahad Naseem and Sheikh Adil are in Karachi jail.
Sindh IG Prison Nusrat Mangan said that this was an old intelligence report given to the authorities after DI Khan jail break.
“However, we are in a state of high alert since the last one week," he said.
He said that Karachi, Sukkur, Hyderabad are likely targets for jail break.
Its worth noting that Rangers have arrived at the central prison while there has been a power breakdown in the area for some hours.
The inner and outer premises have already been cordoned off while SSP Hyderabad was also inside the facility. The central prison is located off the National Highway.
It is surrounded by colonies like Mubarak housing society which is a predominantly Ismaili community colony, Sahafi colony, Hur camp, police CIA centre and Baldia police station. It also faces a multi story hotel as well.
Dozens of heavily-armed Pakistani Taliban insurgents freed nearly 175 inmates, including 35 ‘high-profile militants’, during a brazen overnight attack on the central jail in Dera Ismail Khan on Tuesday.
Similarly in early 2012, militants launched and audacious attack on a prison in Bannu, where they freed nearly 400 prisoners.
