KP govt initiates inquiry into escape of prisoners from Peshawar jail

Faqir Hussain

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP) government has launched a high-level inquiry into the escape of prisoners from Central Jail Peshawar.

A report by a two-member inquiry committee from the Department of Home and Tribal Affairs has instructed the Provincial Inspection Team (PIT) to start the investigation following directives from the KP government. Preliminary investigations are underway, with pertinent documents already collected from the home department and central jail authorities.

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Officials and officers stationed at Peshawar’s central prison are currently being questioned by the PIT.

“Two officers from the Central Jail have been replaced based on the preliminary report,” said a senior official from the home department. The official further noted that the committee, which includes the Additional Secretary Home and Tribal Affairs KP and the Additional Inspector General of Prisons KP, has delivered their findings to the home secretary of KP.

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The report identifies oversight at the jail, neglect concerning security protocols, and the inability to capture the fugitives.

Insiders indicate the committee has yet to pinpoint the prison officials accountable for the escape. However, the report advises that officers and staff at the Central Jail Peshawar’s main entrance be examined, and potentially suspended.

The two-member committee was formed early this year after inmates, including drug dealers, escaped from one of the province’s largest prisons. Nine officials of the central jail were suspended back then.

The inquiry’s backdrop is particularly troubling as these security breaches have occurred during one of KP’s most severe bouts of terrorism.