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A convicted murderer in Pakistan got a scholarship for doing well in the test
Published: January 22, 2022 21:16:20
News from bdnews24.com.
Syed Naeem Shah is talking while sitting in a classroom inside the jail. Photo: Reuters
A prisoner serving a life sentence in a crowded prison in Karachi, Pakistan, has received a scholarship after scoring the highest result in the HSC exam.
Syed Naeem Shah (35) got the highest marks among the private examinees of the largest city of Pakistan in last year's HSC examination; Following this result, he received a scholarship from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP).
In an interview with Reuters at the Karachi Central Jail, Shah said, "It is not possible to do what I have achieved while in prison without conviction."
This prison in the port city of Pakistan was built by the British in 1899. There is a maximum of 2400 prisoners here but now there are about 6000 prisoners.
According to Amnesty International, Pakistan's prisons are overcrowded, with inadequate beds, a shortage of essential medicines and water, and inadequate bathing facilities.
Sitting in a classroom inside the jail, Shah said he liked to go to school as a child but could not continue his studies due to lack of family finances. Older inmates at the prison, who also take classes, said they were inspired to help him prepare for the exams.
Prison deputy superintendent Saeed Sumro said 1,200 inmates at the Karachi Central Jail were studying. Shah was one of them, but no one was as successful as him.
We have given him the opportunity to study, we have given him books and notebooks and pens, so 'his success is also our success', he said.
Shah was sentenced to life in prison in 2016 for shooting and killing a man over a dispute in 2010, and his term in Pakistan was 25 years. Academic achievement, good behavior, and voluntary blood transfusions during his incarceration have combined to reduce his sentence a bit; He faces up to six more years in prison.
According to an ICAP official, Shah will have to go through another formality to get the scholarship, he will have to take an entrance test.
The top four students who got top marks in HSC were given the scholarship of PKR 1 million, and it was not taken into consideration whether they were in jail or out, said the official, who did not want to be identified.
