QUETTA - Despite the largest province of the country Balochistan has no separate prison for women and they are kept in District Prison Quetta and Gaddani Prison Lasbela where male prisoners are detained.
In an interview with APP here on Sunday, Assistant Inspector General Prisons Balochistan Ziaullah Khan Tareen confirmed that the province had no separate prison for women.
"Presently, Balochistan has no separate prison for women and they are brought to District Prison Quetta," he said.
He, however, said that they had submitted a summery to commissioner Quetta for procurement of land for building a separate prison for women prisoners.
"A separate prison with the cost of Rs 25 million can be built for women," he said.
To a question, he said presently two prisons of Balochistan including Quetta and Gaddani had 18 women prisoners who were kept in separate barracks in these prisons.
"In District Prison Quetta, there are 14 women prisoners, of them seven have been convicted including one was awarded life imprisonment," he said adding, that in Gaddani Prison in Lasbela district had four women prisoners, of them, one is convicted.
Tareen said that usually, women prisoners from across Balochistan province are shifted to district prison Quetta and some of them to Gaddani Prison, Lasbela district.
He said Balochistan had total 11 prisons in different areas of the province.
Tareen added that Balochistan Prison Department’s annual budget was over Rs 300 million, which was spent for salaries to 1,600 employees of the department, providing food to prisoners, payment of utility bills and other expenditures.
Ziaullah Khan said that some women were forced by their relatives, especially husbands to work as drug smugglers who later, were arrested by law enforcement agencies and brought to courts where they were convicted.
"The women used in narcotics smuggling entered in this bad business due to pressure by their relatives and some others who are arrested in crimes including robbery and theft, they are also forced by their relatives, especially husbands who pressurized them to be involved in these bad activities for minting money for them," he said.
He said following the Supreme Court's orders, they had sent recommendations to the authorities concerned to improve the conditions of prisons and prisoners.
"The condition of prisons and prisoners will be improved if these recommendations are approved and implemented in letter and spirit," he added.