Murder convict in Karachi jail wins Rs1m CA scholarship

A murder convict, who has been in the Central Jail Karachi for 11 years, has been offered a chartered accountancy scholarship worth Rs1 million to pursue a degree in CA after he showed a remarkable academic performance in his Intermediate exams.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) has awarded the scholarship to Naeem Shah after he set an example of a hardworking student and got through his Intermediate exams with flying colours despite living behind bars.

According to Senior Superintendent of Central Jail Muhammad Hassan Sehto, Shah has completed 11 years of his 25-year jail term since his conviction in a murder case.

“Shah resumed his studies during imprisonment,” Sehto said. “After giving his matriculation exams, he passed the Intermediate examinations, in which he secured 86.73 per cent marks and he was among the top 20 students who obtained the highest marks in the Intermediate studies.”

Now the ICAP has offered Shah a scholarship. A video has surfaced in which he says he had been brought to the Central Jail on May 19, 2011, for committing a murder. He says he had later appealed against the verdict in the high court.

“When I came here at the jail, I was just a middle-level student. I got myself enrolled after witnessing better education facilities here under the rehabilitation programme for inmates. The completion of the programme gave me the confidence to continue my matriculation studies.”

Apart from passing the Intermediate exams, the prisoner has completed computer, Urdu, Arabic courses in the jail. In 2019, he also completed a training course of the Committee for the Welfare of Prisoners, led by Nasir Aslam Zahid, and later taught law to new prisoners.