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Prisoner treatment: Sanaullah’s death opens debate on inmate attacks

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CHANDIGARH / LAHORE: 

The death of Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah, who was severely beaten in a Jammu jail last week, reverberated throughout the country’s diplomatic corridors on Thursday morning with the Pakistan foreign ministry voicing strong concern and the high commission leading calls for an international probe into the incident.

India quickly sidestepped Pakistan’s demand but proposed discussions on the joint judicial panel’s recommendations.

Doctors at Chandigarh hospital said that Sanaullah died of multiple organ failure. His death comes barely a week after Indian prisoner Sarabjit passed away at a hospital in Lahore. Like Sanaullah, Sarabjit had been brutally beaten by inmates at Kot Lakhpat jail, Lahore.

Sanaullah’s body was flown back to Pakistan by a special Pakistan International Airlines flight to Sialkot. The body was earlier handed over to officials of the Pakistan High Commission.

Ministries in action

Pakistan High Commission spokesperson in Delhi has demanded an international inquiry into the prisoner’s death, pressing for “focused discussions” on the condition of Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails. India, however, voiced support for a joint inquiry.

“India and Pakistan should sit together and work out to take forward what the joint Judicial Committee had recommended,” said the Indian spokesman.

At his weekly news briefing, foreign ministry spokesperson Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry told reporters here as many as 47 Pakistanis had been still languishing in Indian jails despite completion of their sentences. He added that his office was making sure that “all Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails were being treated humanely.” The foreign ministry spokesman, however, did not make any comment regarding an international probe into Sanaullah’s death.

But the Indian foreign ministry underlined the need for an urgent examination of recommendations submitted by the India-Pakistan joint Judicial Committee that visited both countries’ jails recently. The foreign ministry accepted an offer from New Delhi for a meeting to come up with ways to avoid similar attacks in the future.

Reactions from India

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Twitter: “Although it’s scant consolation, I’d like to offer a sincere apology to the family of Sanaullah Haq and my sympathies for their loss.”

“While an inquiry will fix responsibility for any dereliction of duty, the fact that this has happening at all is regrettable.”

He also thanked doctors for their efforts to save the prisoner.

“I’d also like to add a word of thanks to the doctors and staff at the Jammu jail and the Chandigarh hospital for their valiant efforts to save Sanaullah,” his Tweet said. This was partly in response to the Indian top court that had questioned Sanaullah’s death, asking how such a death could have occurred in police custody, in response to a public interest litigation.

Congress leader Digvijay Singh said: “The Jammu incident in response to an attack on Sarabjit should not have happened.”

Second Pakistani inmate beaten up

Another Pakistani inmate Abdul Jabbar was attacked in Tihar jail in New Delhi on Tuesday and is in a critical condition, Express News reported.

Two Indian prisoners, Ranjeet and Ajay Kumar, allegedly attacked Jabbar’s face and neck with a blade, leaving him injured. He was shifted to the jail hospital to apparently keep the incident out of the media limelight so as to not incite more tit-for-tat attacks.

Jabbar was arrested after his visit visa to India expired and he was charged with committing espionage for Pakistan. He has so far spent nine years in Tihar Jail.

Family members of the prisoner were shocked by the news. They appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari to use his good offices and diplomatic sources to ensure his treatment in Pakistan.

Riaz Ahmed, the brother of Abdul Jabbar, a resident of Dharampura in Lahore, said they were very poor and could not even afford to go to India for his release or to meet him.

Aftab Ahmed, a close relative of Jabbar, told The Express Tribune that they were unable to contact him as they were not given any number to contact him. Occasionally, Jabbar managed to phone them. But his relatives are increasingly frustrated as they could not contact anybody in India and ask about his condition.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10th, 2013.



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