LARKANA: The Sindh government has constituted oversight committees for prisons in pursuance of relevant Supreme Court order and on the recommendations of the federal ombudsman. The committees’ have been set up for a period of one year, sources in the home department said on Thursday.

Shafique-ur-Rehman Par­acha, a retired civil servant, is the convener of the committee for the Central Prison Karachi with former inspector general of Sindh police Azhar Farooqui, Sarim Bur­ney, Javed Qazi, Sardar Yaseen Malik and Sahfiu­ddin Awan being its other members.

Retired sessions judge Gulshan Chandio is the convener of the committee for the Central Prison for Wom­en and Youthful Offenders’ Industrial School, Karachi.

Inayatullah Morio, a Supr­eme Court lawyer, is the convener of the Central Prison Larkana and and Muham­med Ahmed Farooqui, the sitting chairman of the Red Crescent Society, Larkana, is the convener of the Special Prison for Women, Larkana.

According to a home depa­r­tment notification, the committees would monitor implementation of Supreme Cou­rt’s orders and directives within their respective districts.

The committees would forward their observations and recommendations and identify deficiencies, if any, thro­ugh their respective conveners to the department and inspector general of prisons.

Members of the committees are to be drawn from civil society organisations and law, health and education departments. Philanth­ropists and former bureaucrats may also become members of the committees.

They will regularly visit their assigned prisons and if they found any problem there, the district management and police officers concerned would be there to address the issues, according to the sources.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2018