Prisons on alert after shocking jailbreak in northwest province

Karachi After the shocking jailbreak in the north-western province of Pakistan, authorities in the south have put administrators on high alert at prisons where high-profile militants are serving sentences.

The decision to beef up security was made yesterday at a meeting with the provincial law and jail minister Ayaz Soomro for 27 jails in the area.

"We have decided to deploy one police constable at each barrack of 27 jails in the province," Soomro told media at his office.

"But three jails, Karachi Central Jail, Landhi Jail and Hyderabad Central Jails, are being especially reinforced with security, both human and technological," he said.

‘Dangerous inmates'

In terms of technology, close circuit television cameras are to be installed at areas inside the jail so all parts can be monitored effectively. Also, the Frontier Constabulary, a paramilitary force, is to be part of the reinforcements.

The minister told the media that at least 1,000 highly dangerous inmates, including religious and sectarian militants, were being held in the three prisons mentioned.

In Karachi Central Jail there is Shaikh Mohammad Umar, who was sentenced to death for kidnapping and murdering US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 in Karachi.

London School of Economics graduate

Omar, a British-born graduate of the London School of Economics, was released from an Indian prison after his comrades hijacked a plane and bargained for the exchange of passengers with Omar and others in 1999.

Last weekend, more than 400 Taliban militants attacked Bannu Jail in Khyber Paktunkhwa (KPK) resulting in the escape of some 380 inmates, including one who was waiting to be executed for plotting to murder former military dictator Pervez Musharraf.

The provincial government of KPK suspended the commissioner of Bannu and removed the inspector general of jails and deputy police chief and appointed a three-member committee to probe the massive collapse of security.