EFL registration
Experts involved in operations against Islamic militants and sectarian terrorists have suggested that the government should set up a separate jail for hardcore militants of banned outfits.
They want to establish at least one prison in each of the four provinces where such elements could be kept under the watch of professional jailers. âWe need to make special arrangements to keep these elements separate from other inmates,â one of the few investigating officers in the Sindh Police, who has been attacked a number of times by militants of the banned organisations, told TFT. He says jihadi and sectarian militants have long memories and carry out revenge killings whenever they find an opportunity and that âour normal jails offer such opportunities in abundance.â
| I imagine they're also continually on the hunt for like-minded souls among the run-of-the-mill crooks and hard boyz filling Pakistan's jails... |
Sources in the interior ministry in Islamabad say due to certain âdisturbing factsâ the central government is seriously contemplating the matter. During an operation to track down Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan last year, FBI and CIA officials while monitoring and scanning air and satellite signals detected some unusual signals from a Pakistani city. After intercepting the message, the cell started tracking down the place from where the coded call had been made via a satellite phone. The Americans passed on the information to their Pakistani counterparts who found that the signals were emanating from a prison.
| I am so surprised... Tap... Tap... At least I think I am. |
The prison authorities discovered that some jihadis were using a phone in their barracks. According to sources, using a mobile or satellite phone inside a Pakistani jail is not a big deal. âIt is a routine matter. I have raided various jails in my province and each time we recovered mobile phones from one prisoner or the other,â Maher says. However, he would not specify whether these prisoners included jihadi militants or not.
âWe are living in an era of communication technology and it is easy to get hold of such devices inside the jail because of corrupt officialsâ. Corruption is a major problem in Pakistan jails. There have been various incidents in which imprisoned hardened criminals were caught with weapons and liquor in their possession. In one of the ugliest incidents that has come to light so far, imprisoned criminals were found with 50 juvenile prisoners in Hyderabed jail. The children had been provided to the inmates with the connivance of the prison caretakers.
| "We call this wing of the jail the Buggery Club..." |
Sources say the investigators have found clues leading them to believe that sectarian killings were masterminded by hardcore terrorists in the custody of the authorities. Insiders say the jihadis and sectarian militants have arranged to be held in one barracks where they hold meetings that are out of bounds for jail officials. âIn such a situation everything is possible because the jail supervisors are not professionals,â a source said.
| They've got amateur prison guards? Sometimes foreign cultures are so... foreign. |
TFT has also learnt that the government has ordered that jail officials be thoroughly checked to ensure that they do not have any past or present links with sectarian or religious outfits. These orders have been issued after it came to light that authorities busted some law enforcement officials with connections to jihadi organisations. An inspector of the paramilitary Rangers and an employee of the Pakistan Navyâs Fire Brigade were arrested last year for their alleged involvement in two plots to kill General Pervez Musharraf while he was campaigning for the referendum.
| Yeah. I think something like that'd make me suspicious, too. And they hopped right on it, didn't they? That was only a year ago... |
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