PESHAWAR: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar summoned Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to Central Jail Peshawar on Wednesday after taking note of the prison’s deplorable state during his visit.
Khattak showed up over the chief justice’s orders, but while talking to media there, said he had come to meet Chief Justice Nisar and was not there for a hearing.
Before summoning the chief minister, the chief justice visited various sections of the prison.
During the visit, KP Health Secretary Abid Majeed told Chief Justice Nisar that the psychiatric hospital in the prison is under construction since 2012.
He added that work on the hospital has not yet been completed as the government was not releasing funds for the purpose.
The chief justice also visited the psychiatric hospital in Peshawar, expressing anger at the state of the facility.
During the visit, the chief justice asked the in-charge if patients spent their days lying on beds or there were arrangements for them to pass their time outside.
The chief justice asked where patients are made to sit when they leave their rooms. To this, the hospital administration said benches are arranged for the patients when they come out of their wards.
Moreover, during the visit, the Jails IG informed the chief justice that they will start shifting the prisoners to the new jail from next month.
He made the statement after Chief Justice Nisar addressed dismay at the overcrowding in the prison.
Before Peshawar, the chief justice had also visited the psychiatric hospital in Lahore after he received complaints of mismanagement at the facility.
The hospital visit was planned over the case of a woman reportedly with mental disabilities, who was on a death row.
On his previous visit to Peshawar, the chief justice had ordered action against bogus clinics and quacks across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
