As many as 10 Pakistani prisoners lodged in the Kashmir Valley jails have been moved to Delhi, a senior government official told The Hindu .
The prisoners, mostly Pakistani convicts, were shifted to Delhi’s Tihar jail about three weeks ago following the Central government’s advice. Tihar jail has special wards for high-risk prisoners.
“About 10 prisoners, most of them convicts, have been moved to Delhi jails. None of them are undertrials or locals. The Home Ministry had sent an advisory to shift the high-risk prisoners to jails outside the State,” said the official.
Step criticised
The move to shift Kashmiri prisoners outside the State had received criticism in the State as it would deprive the families from meeting them. The official clarified that none of the prisoners were local Kashmiris but were “foreigners”.
The Home Ministry had recently asked the State government to shift “hardcore terrorists” to jails outside the Kashmir Valley as it suspected the inmates of plotting terror attacks.
Terrorist’s escape
Earlier, the Ministry had advised the State to move ‘terrorists’ to jails in Jammu from the Kashmir Valley after the escape of LeT militant Mohammed Naveed Jutt on February 6. Jutt had escaped from police custody when he was visiting a government hospital in Srinagar. At least 25 militants were shifted out the Valley then. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the case suspected that the conspiracy for Jutt’s escape was hatched inside the Srinagar Central Jail.
Jammu and Kashmir was placed under Governor’s Rule on June 20 after the BJP pulled out of the alliance with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who visited Srinagar last week and reviewed the security situation in the State, was told about the development.
Mobile communication
The Centre has also asked the State to freeze mobile communication in the jails.
In March, the NIA conducted searches at Srinagar Central Jail with the help of NSG commandos and seized 25 mobile phones, some SIM cards, five secure digital cards, five pen drives and an iPod among other things.
In 2017, at least 18 Kashmiri prisoners, including Shahid Yousuf, the son of Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, were injured in a scuffle at Tihar jail.
