Health facilities are almost non-existent in Karachi jails as prison inmates are living in worst conditions and their rights are violated by the authorities, said MQM-Pakistan leader, Nasreen Jalil at Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Monday. MQM leader Mehfooz Yar Khan and lawyers of legal aid committee were also along with her on this occasion. Jalil said the central jail had a capacity of 2400 inmates, but the prisoners are more than thrice of its capacity.
Prisoners have to sleep sideways, tightly jammed for lack of space. She said, the spread of disease is directly related to high population and unhygienic living conditions. Almost all of the prisoners in Karachi jails are afflicted with scabies, but little is being done about it.
She said, "Our party worker, Naeem was arrested on 23 April 2015 and shifted to jail on 19 May. He was suffering with asthma and died in the jail due to lack of medical facilities. Before this, one of our party workers was also died in the Jail because of medical negligence." She said still there were many prisoners in the jail including our workers who were suffering from different kind of health issues. She said, "Despite making regular requests, jail authorities never paid attention to this heinous issue. Our four party workers, Amir, Imran, Abdul Majeed and Noor Muhammad are suffering with sever health issues but authorities treat them like animals. There is neither a hospital nor a dispensary in the jail."
Mehfooz Yar Khan said, "Mostly, our jailed party workers are innocent. Therefore, we appeal to responsible authorities to stop political discrimination. Even lawyers are being prevented from meeting their clients at jails. This is the most blatant violation of the rights of prisoners."
"The country's slow judicial process leads to an increase in the number of cases pending before the courts and is a major cause in delayed decisions that results in delayed justice as well as overcrowding of jails." They appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan and Federal Government to take notice of the issue and establish a new jail in every district of the city as just 2 jails cannot meet with the requirement of the city.