By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court has set up a commission on the plight of prisoners in the jail which will be headed by Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari
According to details, IHC has taken a major step in this regard and directed Shireen Mazari to hold its first meeting within seven days.
The Islamabad High Court has directed the Health Ministry to set up special medical boards for prisoners in all four provinces.
Meanwhile, The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday appointed a commission to look into human rights violations in the country’s prisons.
“Keeping in view the alarming state of affairs regarding the serious violation of human rights and civil liabilities of prisoners incarcerated in prisons across the country, this Court appoints a Commission headed by Ms Shireen Mazari, Minister of Human Rights,” read an eight-page verdict authored by Chief Justice Athar Minallah.
The health secretary, the interior secretary, former chairman of the Human Rights Commission Zohra Yousuf, a journalist Ghazi Shahabuudin, Supreme Court lawyer Zia Awan, former DG of Federal Investigation Agency Tariq Khosa and the chief secretaries of the four provinces will be members of the commission.
Proposing the commission’s terms of reference (TOR), the verdict said the probe body will investigate “human rights violations in the prisons of Pakistan and lack of medical assistances and obstacles in access to a court of law of prisoners who do not have means or assistance in this regard.”
The commission, it ruled, will investigate “failure on part of the executive authorities and respective Governments to fulfill obligations and enforce the Prisons Rules and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 relating to prisoners who suffer from illness and diseases.”
