ISLAMABAD: Federal Ombudsman Salman Farooqi has announced to establish the National Endowment Fund for implementation of reform programmes for prisoners. “The recommendations for bringing jail reforms on the directions of the Supreme Court of Pakistan will be drafted soon and in this regard proposals were sought from the provinces,” he said while addressing a meeting of the National Committee for Jail Reforms here on Tuesday in which reports about the conditions of jails in Quetta, Rawalpindi, Karachi and Lahore were presented. The meeting was attended by former MD Baitul Mal Zammarud Khan, Chairman HEC Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, Justice (retd) Shahzad Sheikh, former chairman Wapda Shakeel Durrani, Rector COMSATS Dr Junaid Zaidi, ex-federal secretary Syed Anwar Mehmood, Hafiz Ihsan Khokhar, Mrs Shahina Waqar Masood, SM Tahir, Shah Mehboob Alam, Rafiqa Bano, Abdul Waheed Babar and other members of the committee who also presented reports after their visits to different jails of the country. Addressing the meeting, Federal Ombudsman SalmanFarooqi said the committee comprising experienced persons and their recommendations for jail reforms would bring about significant reforms in jails. The federal ombudsman directed the committee to visit the jails of Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan so that the real facts of the jailbreaks could be assessed. He also directed the committee members to pay surprise visits to jails. If visits were made after intimation, then it will serve no purpose as reports of “all is well’ is not useful. The ombudsman also directed to link jails with the relevant university of the area so that an education plan for conerned prison could be made.Former MD Baitul Mal Zammarud Khan told the meeting that his NGO Sweet Homes will provide facilities for education and health in the Adiala Jail to make it a model jail.
