KARACHI: Rejecting the viral social media reports and images regarding inhumane treatment being meted out to Afghan illegal immigrants in Sindh jails, Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon has said that the viral images of behind the bar Afghan nationals do not belong to Sindh.
Accompanied by Adviser to Sindh CM on Prisons Aijaz Jakhrani and DIG Prisons Sheeba Shah, the information minister Sindh spoke to a press conference in Karachi in the backdrop of social media viral images of Afghan children languishing in crammed jails claimed to be located in Sindh.
He said that there were 129 under-trial Afghan women along with their 178 children in the prisons of the province, who are being treated gently with provision of all the due facilities without any discrimination as per the jail manual and laws of the land.
After due investigation, it has been found that the pictures viral on the social media didn’t belong to any of the prisons in Karachi or the rest of the province, said Shareej Inam Memon, adding that 178 Afghan children in the Sindh jails are not the juvenile offenders but young children living voluntarily with their jailed mothers.
He mentioned that the jail manual granted permission that children up to the age of seven years could stay in the prisons along with their imprisoned mothers.
The law allows the imprisoned mothers to keep their minor children with them in the jail when there is no one outside the prison to take care of them, said the provincial information minister.
He asserted that illegal immigrants were arrested in the province as per the provisions of the constitution and law of the land as was the case in any other country in the world, adding that they were sent to the prisons as per the court’s directives.
The Sindh minister said that illegal immigrants belonging to Afghanistan were not being treated unfairly or in a discriminatory manner. Besides, there were women jail inmates in the province from Bangladesh and Nigeria as well.
Memon assured that the law of the land dealing with the issue of illegal immigrants was applied to people of all nationalities without any prejudice.
He said that the courts had handed down a two-month prison sentence each to 54 Afghan national women for living in Pakistan illegally, adding that their sentences would be completed in January. After that, they would be deported to Afghanistan.
He said the illegal immigrants were not allowed to indulge in the sale and purchase of the real estate in the province.
Children languishing in the jails of the province are getting good quality meal as well as better health and educational services, said the information minister Sindh.
He invited the media persons to visit the prisons in order to verify the conditions of the minor inmates of the jails.
He told the journalists that a delegation of the National Commission for Human Rights led by its chairperson had recently met the women and children inmates of the jails in Sindh and they had appreciated the facilities and environment of the prisons.
A total of 45 suspects were nominated in the FIR of the case that was registered at the Sindhri police
District Police Officer Rai Mazhar Iqbal awarded them the appointment letters at a ceremony
DC Sarmad Saleem Akram had received information about the production of counterfeit goods
Council confirmed the recognition in a list of national research journals issued by the HEC
He believed that conflict was primarily driven by misunderstandings, which must be halted through peaceful means
He said Pakistanis were very skilled workers and works in vast variety of fields
