LAHORE: After reshuffling hundreds of police officers in Punjab for allegedly manhandling the Azadi March participants on May 25, the Punjab government on Tuesday removed Adiala Jail Superintendent Chaudhry Asghar Ali for allegedly meting out inhumane treatment to Shahbaz Gill, chief of staff to PTI chairman Imran Khan, during the first night of his incarceration.
The development came hours after the controversial background of alleged torture on Shahbaz Gill in the judicial lockup of Adiala Jail as Punjab Home and Prisons Minister Muhammad Hashim Dogar, after his meeting with Gill, categorically stated earlier in the day that “Shahbaz Gill was in good health and absolutely alright.”
However a few hours later, the minister took a different stance and twitted that he has recommended to the competent authority removal of DIG (Prisons) Rawalpindi Region Rana Abdul Rauf and Adiala Jail Superintendent Chaudhry Asghar for “illegally keeping Gill in a Chakki (cell) and subjecting him to torture”.
Former prime minister and PTI chairman Imran Khan a few days ago had alleged that Gill was stripped naked, beaten and mentally tortured behind bars. “They are torturing and trying to mentally break him. And they are forcing him to give statements against Imran Khan,” the ex-premier alleged, adding that if “Imran has to say something, he will say it himself […] he doesn’t need Shahbaz Gill for that”.
A senior officer familiar with the matter told Business Recorder that Shahbaz Gill was incarcerated in the same cell where former president Asif Ali Zardari, former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and other important political personalities, particularly Khawaja Muhammad Asif and Rana Sanaullah, were confined.
He rejected as baseless the claim of Punjab Home Minister Hashim Dogar that Gill was tortured in the judicial lockup and termed the recommendation of removal of Rana Abdul Rauf and Chaudhry Asghar a move to “victimize jail staff politically”.
While talking to the media after meeting prisoners and Shahbaz Gill at Adiala Jail, the minister categorically stated that there is no chance of torture on Gill by hanging him naked upside down. “Shahbaz Gill is perfectly alright,” he said, adding that he will personally meet PTI Chairman Imran Khan and tell him about Gill’s health.
He also brushed aside the notion that PTI leaders were being denied permission to meet Gill in jail saying that a lot of people met the incarcerated PTI leader. He said Gill’s case falls under the domain of the federal government while the administration of Adiala Jail can act only as a custodian. According to the home minister, he will announce one month remission in the sentences of prisoners after meeting party chairman Imran Khan. He said he was satisfied with the security and lodging arrangements of inmates.
Talking about the administrative issues of jails in Punjab, he said he wanted to make jails autonomous and the pay package of the prisons employees will be equal to the Punjab police officials. He also announced establishing “family rooms” for female prisoners and said that at present there are over 50,000 inmates in jails, who should be treated as “guests”.
It may be mentioned that the PTI leaders, after not coming to see Gill for almost a week, had been claiming that the jail administration was not allowing them to meet him.
Repeated efforts were made to contact Punjab Prisons Inspector General Mirza Shahid Saleem Baig but he neither attended calls nor responded to messages.
According to a notification issued by Punjab Home Department late night, Adiala Jail Superintendent Chaudhry Asghar Ali has been transferred and posted as Faisalabad Central Jail Superintendent “with immediate effect” in his own pay and scale, vice Mansoor Akbar, who has been directed to assume the charge of his new assignment as Adiala Jail Superintendent “with immediate effect”.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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