MULTAN City News

Multan jail jammers jam surroundings

From Nadeem Shah

MULTAN: People residing in the vicinity of the District Jail have been facing problems in cellular connectivity after installation of jammers in the jail.

Talking to The News here on Monday, Young Doctors Association former president Dr Kabir Ahmad said that the mobile phone jammers installed in the jail had largely disturbed patients, doctors, paramedics and students at the Nishtar Hospital. The medical staff is unable to contact senior doctors in emergency while the medical students belonging to far-flung areas are unable to talk to their families due to the mobile phone jammers.

He claimed that the land on which the jail was established had been allocated for the hospital extension. He urged the hospital administration to ask the authorities concerned to shift the jail to some other place.

Residents living near the jail said that the jail officials should make ensure that the inmates did not use mobile phones. They said that they had been facing a number of problems since the installation of mobile phone jammers in the jail.

When contacted, the District Jail authorities said that illegal possession and use of mobile phones by the prisoners was one of the major challenges being faced by them. They said that the mobile phone service had been jammed across the jail to counter the use of mobile phones by the prisoners.

In the first phase, the mobile phone jammers were installed in Sahiwal High Security Zone, Bahawalpur Central Jail, Dera Ghazi Khan Central Jail, Faisalabad Central Jail, Gujranwala Central Jail, Lahore Central Jail, Mianwali Central Jail, Multan Central Jail, Rawalpindi Central Jail, Faisalabad District Jail, Kasur District Jail, Lahore District Jail, Sheikhupura District Jail and Sialkot District Jail, they said, adding that in the second phase, jammers were installed in Attock District jail, Bahawalnagar District Jail, Bhakkar District Jail, Gujrat District Jail, Jhang District Jail, Jehlum District Jail, Layyah District Jail, Okara District Jail, Mandi Bahauddin District Jail, Multan District Jail, Muzaffargarh District Jail, Pakpattan District Jail, Sargodha District Jail, Shahpur District Jail, Rajanpur District Jail, Rahimyar Khan District Jail, Toba Tek Singh District Jail, Vehari District Jail, Bahawalpur District Jail, Faisalabad Borstal Jail and Chakwal Sub-Jail.

It is worth mentioning that the prisoners involved robbery, murder and other cases are kept in the District Jail while the prisoners involved in terrorism cases are kept in the New Central Jail.