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Jail Reforms: Pakistan Sets Example
Global terror wars have complicated the life of ordinary people very badly every where. And any one who is brought to jail could be tortured the way the authorities and their henchmen in jails want, more so the so-called "suspected" or "potential" "terrorists". There has been outcry over the inhuman conditions prevailing, like in any other country, in Pakistani jails.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has, as announced by him upon assuming premiership in March, set out on his mission of strengthening and stabilizing Pakistan step by step and by considering issue by issue. Issues of economics, politics, regional stability, “terrorism, security and structural changes are being taken up for administering reforms. One of major issues, the Jail Reforms that evaded the rulers in Pakistan too long endangering the lives of less important people thrown into jails, has received due attention in Gilani's dispensation.
Considering the plight of ordinary people on the streets, the conditions prevailing in jails need no elaboration as it is of anybody's guess about the prevailing most inhuman conditions in every jail every where in the world, including known so-called democracies like India. Jails are not seen as contributing to the remaining life of the inmates since they don't play any reformation role. With a view charting a precise program to streamline jail administration, Prime Minister Gilani on 11 may spent a busy day here as he held meetings with legislators, political leaders and IGs Prisons province, social workers and officials of National Reconstruction Bureau.
The premier spent a lot of time with Pakistani leaders across the political spectrum, including Ghulam Ahmed Manika, Jehangir Badr, Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo, leader of the PML-Q forward block in Punjab Assembly Syed Najaf Abbas, and also with legislators and social workers and discussed in details with them this crucial issue. Justice Ahmed Khan Secretary Law division, Imtiaz Qazi Additional secretary ministry of interior, Naeem ul Haq member NRB, Mian Farooq, IG prisons Punjab, Yamin Khan IG prisons Sindh, Khalid Abbass additional IG prisons NWFP and Major Lashari, DIG prisons Baluchistan were also present to interact with the premier. Idea behind convening a massive body of personnel involved in jail activities is to enhance a speedy action on jail reform.
Earlier, chairing a committee meeting held to prepare recommendations on jail reforms, the premier said that the focus of jail reforms should be on improving the condition of jail inmates and jails should act a reformation centre instead of producing criminals. The premier said the government attaches high priority to the jail reforms and provision of facilities to the inmates and directed all the concerned authorities to come up with proposals in this regard at the earliest.
A Victim
As a victim who spent four years in Jails on corruption charges, premier Gilani has sufficient knowledge about jail conditions in the country and also has firm views on the need for reform and final target. Describing his own experiences in castellation, he said that a lot of things need to be kept in view while preparing reforms, over-crowding is one of the main issues which need to be addressed as it create problems like drug addiction, miserable food conditions, availability of space and spreading of various diseases like skin diseases, hepatitis and TB.
Expressing his serious reservations on the role of Mushaqati system he directed the jail staff to provide telephone facility to the prisoners to check corruption. He said that under trial prisoners are 80 percent and stressed the need to speed up their trial to control the overcrowding in jails. He also stresses the need to provide best food and health facilities at the prisons especially for the women, including availability of gynecologists.
Gilani has already gone ahead with his reform plan with a few steps being taken in recent days and directed the Ministry of Law and Justice to change the jail manual according to the needs of 2008 to get rid of century's old system and ensure provision of basic facilities to the prisoners. He stressed upon the need to impart vocational training to the prisoners to make them responsible citizens. The premier directed the committee to check the powers of superintendents of jail through judiciary and study the reports of 'Law Commission and Justice Zahid Nasir' while making the reforms.
Indian Custody and Jails: An over-view
Jail terror is common in both advanced and developing countries. But the appalaing scines in jails are a national shame in democracies, like India, for the prevailing nasty conditions. Politicians who have experienced de-humanized life in jails also just don't bother bout jail reforms even when they come to power. Rather, once they are out of jails the politicians devise strategies to get as many as people as possible including politicians as they can to the jails.
Torture in police lock-ups and jails is no more a secret issue in India.Torture in jails is a continuation of lock-up beatings. But the politicians use police and jail authorities to deal with and hand out worst possible torture to their opponents and others. There is not one single state or union territory in the country where prisons are not ill-treated extra. Since government does not bother about cruelty in jails, the jail authorities do even more.
In India several politicians have spent time in jails and presumably they were meted out the same ill-treatment as of others who were convicted for offences- committed or suspected. But none of the Indian politicians talks about conditions in jails, let along reforms in jail and its administration.From old leaders like Gandhi, Nehru and Patel and the current leaders like L.K. Advani, Lalu Yadav and Jayalalitha several Incian leaders have spent time in jails on various charges, but when in ruling fornts, they did nothing to reform the hazzards of jail term.
Take the example of capital Delhi state. Indira Gandhi who was put in the notorious Tihar Jail, New Delhi for her excesses during emergency, by the then Morari Desai -led Janata government when it come to power following the end of emergency clamped by Indira Gandhi's Congress party. Tihar jail, where the most inhuman conditions are till prevailing and the Muslims who are brought there by police, mostly on false charges, are given worst possible ill-treatment, is no heaven for non-Muslims as well. Not only Indira Gandhi completed her jail term in that notorious Tihar jail, but when she came back to power she never even spoke abut the conditions in the jails. She did not think it right to initiate jail reforms. (This writer has written in details about the way the Kashmiris are isolated for the world's cruelest punishment methods)
In the state Tamil Nadu in the South the two main political parties, DMK and AIDMK have misused the police and jail authorities to the maximum extent possible. In fact the political leaders consider police and military in India as their personal organization to be used against any one they consider their enemy. Once Karunanidhi the CM sent his arch rival Jayalalitha to Chennai jail on deadly corruption charges, she did the same when she came back to power after three years. She got the police to pick Karunanidhi up in the midnight from his inner bedroom and was whisked away to police station without even letting him put on his cloths.
But when Karunanidhi came back again to power she did not continue with his jail strategy, because he knows Jayalalitha would retaliate even in much worse fashion through police and jail authorities when she comes back to power. But the point is Jayalalitha and wooed with special privileges to police and promoted them selectively to keep them in good humors. Now Karnunaidhi's police pick up political and others common people, Muslims in particular, in similar fashion as Jayalalithaa did to him in the midnight. Neither the writer Karunanidhi nor the convent educated Jayalalitha could think well of the inmates of jails even after spending month together there. (It is quite possible that these VIPs are given 'homely treatment and accorded royal considerations).
In torture and inhuman treatments, Dravidian lock-ups and jails are not better than their Ariyan ones in the north or similar ones elsewhere. US-led terrorism and Indian anti-Muslimism have aggravated the situation in the country's jails and lock-ups where Muslims are going perils of new civilization.
In India, police is not always people's police, but tags are invariably attacked to each group. There are Congress police, Communist police, BSP police, RJD police, Telugu Desam police, DMK police and ADMK police, in addition to caste-based ones, like the notorious but powerful Reddy police in Andhra Pradesh. But Muslims suffer the worst because all these denominations have one basic feature: anti-Muslimism and anti-Islamism brutally encouraged by the system and government.
In every state police and jail establishments are dominated by the dominant caste and police and jail authorities look at the public entering their premises from composite ankles of political affiliations, caste and strength of their pockets. Business is really roaring in these sectors. Any one who is weak in all respects is looked down upon and insulted and literally thrown out. Yet, no one cares. The position of Muslims in such a vicious atmosphere is really pathetic!
As revealed, Indian jails have as many innocent people, particularly Muslims, as there are anti-Muslim people in the country. India simply cannot reform jails because it comes into conflict with its anti-Muslim policy of tracking and torturing Muslims in jails. Tihar Jail has been mute witness to this as much as Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore Jail where people like Abdul Nasser Madani, who then fought for rights of Muslims and against Hindutva in Kerala, were tortured for over a decade without trial before they were proved innocent in the cases where they were rearrested as" suspected" terrorists.
The Indian vicious circles in every sector survive at the strength of police support. Criminalization of politics has led to division of police force into similar party affiliated wings supporting their own leaders and “customers and police don't think they are paid by people but the party in power. Similar attitude is prevalent in jail system too.
The situation is ugly, alarming, but that is the reality. The vulgarization of politics in Tamil Nadu is not one-state case history; it is the national story and national shame at that. So much so, it quite logical that general public is unable to know if the hooliganism, vandalism and other crimes in the society are being encouraged by the prevailing police system. This attitude led to forced parade of women in Lucknow by the ruling leaders, unreported by the Indian media precisely because the affected people are Muslims. Also, Indian terrorism strategy requires the jails to be as nasty as they are today, because India cannot shed its terror attacks to arrest Muslims.
Once a free nation but now known as a state within Indian Union, Kashmir, fully militarized by the occupying Indian forces, is a site of regular murders, torture and harassment not only in jails and police custody, but even on the streets, because no one cares for the freedom seeking Kashmiris, called in New Delhi as so-called “terrorists.
A Word
In the present era of “terrorism and Guantanamo, the ongoings in jails go unnoticed and unchecked by the concerned authorities, political parties and government. In his thoughts on jail reform Gilani has given enough consideration to the genuine fact it is not always the case when crude criminals alone come to jails and there could be innocent people as well. In a way as to testing his humane attitude to prisons in general, Gilani has directed the jail authorities to install water filtration plants for the provision of clean drinking water to the prisoners. If his reforms yield the required results it would a boon for the entire civilization to evolve suitable strategies to undertake jail reform in every country, though some countries like India would not seriously attempt that.
Whether or not the so-called "democracies" like India follow suit after Pakistan has initiated prison reforms, but Gilani would indeed do yeomen service to his country, and the world at large, if he also introduces similar reforms in police custody and police attitude to public in general, for, the jail affairs are closed linked with the police activities and the trouble in fact begins there. When people are not politically, economically and caste-wise strong enough, they would be sent to courts where the hon. Judges, as a routine matter just punish them, by taking cues from the police notes and gestures of the court networks, and in Jail they face the crudest possible punishment, apart form the usual ones decided by the courts.
When the police custody and jail situation are alarmingly explosive world wide especially in democracies like India, it is indeed remarkable that Gilani has volunteered to effect much need reforms to clean up jail atmosphere in Pakistan. This way impression should created to show that jails need not be so bad just because the inmates are undergoing punishment. A believer, the premier hopefully will get all necessary courage and strength not only to fully reform Pakistan, but also to take Pakistan forward. Pakistan has begun a great work quite earnestly. ------------------------
DR.ABDUL RUFF Colachal
Researcher in International Relations,
Analyst, Columnist & Commentator
South Asia
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