KARACHI: Terming the escape of two undertrial prisoners (UTPs) from the Central Prison Karachi (CPK) a “most serious incident”, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Monday suspended the deputy inspector general of prisons (DIGP) ordering that the vacancy be filled with “a good police officer”.

He passed the order while presiding over a meeting on the security of prisons across Sindh and reviewing the progress of an inquiry being conducted into the much-hyped escape of two “dangerous” prisoners from the central prison.

Echoing the high probability of an “inside job”, the chief minister said no prisoner could escape from a jail without support of officials entrusted to guard the facility.

“I think this [jailbreak] has been made possible in connivance with certain jail officials,” he said. “How many times the DIG [prisons] has inspected jails before this incident took place?” he asked and received a negative response from the jail department.

Action comes in the wake of jailbreak by two undertrial prisoners last month

Mr Shah ordered suspension of the DIGP and filling the post with “a good police officer”.

The chief minister warned the jail department that he would not spare anyone found involved in the escape, which had gravely embarrassed the authorities.

“Let the inquiry report be submitted [to me], I’ll launch a clean-up operation and spare no one who is found deviating from one’s job and compromising honesty,” he said.

The meeting was informed that additional inspector general of the Counter-Terrorism Department Sanaullah Abbasi was heading an inquiry into the incident, who would submit his report to the chief minister soon.

Prisons Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar told the chief minister that the two prisoners had escaped on June 13 from the central prison. He said he took the incident “seriously” and got 15 prison officials, the jail superintendent included, arrested. Besides, he added, he ordered registration of an FIR of the incident.

The minister said he ordered a search operation inside the CPK with the help of the home ministry that led to the recovery of a number of devices and equipment, legally banned in the facility.

The prisons IG told the meeting that TV sets, pedestal fans and stoves had been given to the inmates under the provisions of the jail manual. However, he conceded that mobile phones found in the cells had been smuggled in.

“This is a very serious matter. Had it been reported the same day”, the suspects could have been rearrested comfortably, he said. He asked the IG for prisons to brief him on the system of headcount in prisons.

The IG said a head constable who oversaw the headcount in the evening would count the inmates and record it in the register.

“It means, on June 13 the headcount was recorded as full even though two of the inmates had escaped,” said an angry chief minister.

“This shows the headcount system is highly flawed, inefficient and is taken just as a ritual. Had it been efficient, it would have helped us detect the escape.”

He asked where the official who had conducted the headcount was. The prisons IG replied that he was behind bars.

“He [head constable] should be there and face a professional interrogation,” said CM Shah.

CTD head Abbasi said the search of the jail by the Rangers prior to the collection of evidence by the investigation officer had destroyed key pieces of evidence.

“The search of the prison should have waited until the investigation officer collected pieces of evidence,” he said.

He said the two UTPs who broke the jail hailed from Karachi. He termed the FIR registered about the crime as defective, adding that the crime investigator got judicial custody of the arrested officials instead of physical remand which had negatively affected the interrogation process.

The CTD chief’s assertions led the chief minister to order suspension of the SHO and the IO concerned.

Security audit of all prisons ordered

CM Shah told the home secretary to conduct a security audit of all the prisons across Sindh and submit a report. He also ordered the home secretary to relieve those jail officials from their duties who had dubious service records and were considered unreliable.

“Our law enforcement agencies arrest terrorists and outlaws with intelligence, hard work and great sacrifices and they (prisoners) cannot be allowed to escape unpunished,” he said.

He asked the CTD chief to conduct a thorough inquiry from all the angles. He told the police department to make all-out efforts to re-arrest the escaped UTPs.

“I want to see them again behind bars in the shortest possible time,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2017