President for ethical, moral reformation of prisoners

ISLAMABAD, July 12 (APP): President Mamnoon Hussain
Wednesday underscored the need for ethical and moral
reformation of the prisoners to control crime rate besides,
making prisoners an effective part of the society.
The president said this during presentation of a report
by the Prison Reforms Committee under the auspices of the
Federal Ombudsman Secretariat here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, a press release said.
He stressed that reforms in the jail system were
inevitable in this regard.
He noted that in the modern world, prison reforms had
been introduced in the light of Islamic teachings and prisons
had been turned into reforms centers.
He said the basic purpose of the punishment was to
change their mindset through better treatment and training.
Being a political worker, he himself experienced
imprisonment and personally observed conditions of prisoners,
the president added.
He further said in jails, prisoners were not
only subjected to physical punishment but also their self-
respect was hurt.
Such acts leave debilitating impact on their psyche
which created feelings of revenge among them against their own
enemies and the whole society, he observed.
The president said such punishments were of no use which
resulted in the alienation of a certain segment of society
from the mainstream and instead of being beneficial, it
actually became counter-productive.
He also noted that the modern concept of incarceration
and prisons was based upon spiritual and physical health
improvement of the prisoners.
He said Zakat could also be used to secure
release of prisoners who failed to pay their fines.
He also commended the efforts of the well off segment of
society for ameliorating the condition of prisoners and said
that such charity would promote goodwill in society.
Federal Ombudsman Salman Faruqui, Head of the Prison
Reforms Committee, Ejaz Ahmed Qureshi, former secretary
information Syed Anwar Mehmood, Chairperson of NCHD Senator
Razina Alam Khan, Chairman Higher Education Commission Dr
Mukhtar Ahmed, Vice Chancellor of Allama Iqbal Open University
Dr Shahid Siddiqui, Executive Director of COMSATS Dr S M
Junaid Zaidi, prominent industrialist Sardar Yasin Malik,
Patron in Chief of Pakistan Sweet Homes Zammurd Khan, Managing
Director National Book Foundation Dr Inam ul Haq Javeid and
many other prominent social and industrialist personalities
attended the event.