Chronology of jail riots in Punjab

By Qamar Jabbar

LAHORE: Five incidents of prisoners clashing with jail officials and police have taken place in various jails in Punjab over the last five years, in which one prisoner was killed and 194 were injured, sources told Daily Times on Saturday.

The incident at the Sialkot District Jail was the sixth one in which five prisoners and three civil judges were killed.

According to Punjab Home Department sources, the five earlier jail riots caused the government a loss of Rs 0.325 million and the government took action against 17 police officials.

The first jail riot took place at Sahiwal Central Jail on April 11, 1999 in which 28 prisoners were injured. They damaged the jail water supply line and also set the furniture on fire, causing the government a loss of Rs 80,000. In that incident the government took action against eight jail officials.

On June 4 2001, 11 prisoners, some jail officials and senior policemen were injured as prisoners battled jail officials and other police at the Faisalabad District Jail. The police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to control the prisoners who were trying to break through the jail gate after demolishing barracks under construction. Sources said the four hour riot reportedly erupted when prisoners under trial lodged in barracks 6 and 7 were told to work on them in the morning. On their refusal, some jail staff started beating them. The prisoners in return threw bricks at the jail staff and started breaking down the barracks.

Jail Deputy Superintendent Rana Munawar, CIA SP Raja Munawar Ahmad, Chief Warden Allah Dad and some other policemen were also injured. The government took action against five jail officials.

The third incident took place on August 13, 2001 at Sahiwal Central Jail in which 95 prisoners were injured and the government suffered a loss of Rs 0.01million. Six jail employees were injured in the clash between prisoners and jail staff. The riots took place here on the death of a prisoner Bashir Hanjra, who was reportedly killed by police torture. Sources said jailers found narcotics from Bashir Hanjra’s cell and torture him badly. He was sent to Sahiwal Civil Hospital but died. When his companions were informed, they started rioting on the plea that Hanjra was tortured to death by jail authorities. The prison authorities rang the emergency bell and started locking the barracks. The prisoners climbed the roofs of the barracks and started throwing bricks at the police, who retaliated with teargas and batons and subsequently opened fire, injuring 95 prisoners.

The forth incident took place at the Rahim Yar Khan District Jail on November 14 2002, in which 21 prisoners were injured in a police baton-charge. The riot took place over lack of proper facilities. The prisoners damaged the latrines in their protest.

The fifth incident took place at Sahiwal Central Jail on November 14, 2002 in which prisoner Mohammad Ejaz died and 39 others were injured when police opened fire to quell a battle between prisoners and jail employees. The dispute arose when the jail employees tried to shift a prisoner to another block. The dispute soon turned into rioting and the prisoners started pelting stones. They broke the cells of the condemned prisoners and freed some 150 prisoners.

The inmates took five jail staff hostage, including Deputy Superintendent Rai Muhammad Arif and Chief Warden Muhammad Iqbal, but later released them.

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