Faisalabad Central Jail to have gallows soon

Mohammad Saleem

FAISALABAD: Sensing danger in shifting the convicted terrorists from the central to district jail, the Punjab government has decided to set up gallows in the Central Jail within a month to execute more of them.

After Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted six-year moratorium on death sentence in the wake of the Peshawar school tragedy, the law-enforcement agencies had shifted six terrorists from the central to district jail on Friday and Saturday last for their execution.

The Central Jail houses terrorists at its high-security barracks but it lacks arrangements to execute them.

Aqeel alias Dr Usman, Arshad Mehrban and Ghulam Sarwar of Bari Ziarat Civil Lines, Rawalpindi, Rashid Mahmood alias Teepu of Syedpura Road, Rawalpindi, Zubair Ahmed aka Tuseef of Kerore Pucca, Lodhran and Ikhlas Ahmed alias Roosi of Haripur, Azad Kashmir had been shifted for execution. These executed terrorists were involved in attack on the GHQ, Sri Lankan cricket team, killing of army men and attack on former president Pervez Musharraf.

Sources said shifting of terrorists like Dr Usman and Arshad on Friday last was quite challenging and the LEAs had imposed curfew on Jaranwala Road, Tariqabad Road, Mall Road, Club Road and Jail Road to cover a 10-kilometre distance to the district jail.

Jaranwala Road where the Central Jail is situated is one of the busiest roads having areas like People’s Colony, Madina Town, Abdullapur and Koh-i-Noor Town and the district jail is in the heart of the city, with the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Science Foundation offices, Government Officers Residences (GOR) and police lines nearby.

A resident of GOR told Dawn people faced a great deal of inconvenience owing to closure of roads and many could not even move out of their houses.

“The LEAs stopped our guests, checked their luggage and did not allow them to reach their destination,” he said.

He said the convicts should not be shifted from the Central Jail because it created difficulties for people.

Sources said a mobile gallows was available at a prison in Sahiwal and such a facility could be used to avert threat of reprisals. They said the Punjab government had earmarked Rs1.33 million for the gallows in the Central Jail.

Officials of the buildings department said the contractor would be given one month for the construction of the gallows.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2014