PESHAWAR: In order to provide protection and safety to the imprisoned Indian prisoner, the authorities at the Central Prison Peshawar have shifted him to a separate room.
An official confirmed to The News that the convicted Indian prisoner Hamid Nihal Ansari was shifted to a separate room to protect him from the prisoners, who quarreled with him two times.
The prison authorities took the step after receiving direction from the Peshawar High Court (PHC) to adopt security measures for protecting the imprisoned Indian national as he was twice attacked by other prisoners.
A division bench comprising Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Qalandar Ali Khan on August 4 had directed Prison Superintendent Masoodur Rehman to hold a meeting with human rights activist Rakhshanda Naz and find a solution for safety and security of the Indian prisoner.
The bench asked him to take consent of the prisoner also on the security and safety measures and submit a report about it before the next hearing. Rakhshanda Naz, who has been appearing in the case, is also in contact with the prisoner in question.
Talking to The News on Wednesday, Rakhshanda Naz said that after the high court’s direction she held a meeting with the prisoner and superintendent of the prison for his safety and protection.
She said the Indian prisoner was satisfied with the security measures. “The prison authorities would keep the other prisoners who quarreled with him locked, when he was freed for walk in the prison,” she said, adding that the Indian prisoner was satisfied with the security measures.
On the other hand, the High Commission of India in Islamabad on August 5, sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose copy is available to The News, in which a complaint was lodged about security of the Indian prisoner.
The letter said that as per media reports Hamid Nihal Ansari was repeatedly attacked by the prisoners. “The High Commission of India has sent 40 verbal notes to them concerning Nihal Ansari, to provide consular access, safety and security and other relevant information on his arrest and legality under Pakistani laws, apart from releasing him since he was incarcerated for more than three years against his reported sentence of three years,” the Indian High Commission said in the letter, adding that consular access had not been provided so far.
In the letter, the High Commission of Indian had requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to urgently take appropriate measures for the safety, security and physical and mental health of the Indian prisoner and provide him consular access.
During hearing of the Indian prisoner’s application in the court, his lawyer Qazi Muhammad Anwar argued that the petitioner was kept in solitary confinement. The lawyer said that recently one of the prisoners attacked the Indian prisoner and bit him on his arm. He added that the said prisoner had been frequently hurling threats at Hamid Nihal Ansari and threatening to teach him a lesson as the Indian forces were committing atrocities in the Occupied Kashmir. The petitioner had gone missing after he was taken into custody by the intelligence agencies and police in Kohat district in Nov 2012. www.thenews.com.pk/print/141694-Indian-prisoner-shifted-to-separate-room-for-security-reasons
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