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The Sindh government on Monday reinstated the Landhi Jail superintendent who was suspended on the instructions of Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, after the top judge found during a surprise visit to the penitentiary last week that Shahrukh Jatoi — the main accused in the 2012 Shahzeb murder case — had been accorded extraordinary facilities in a C-class jail.
Upon witnessing the facilities granted to Jatoi — which, from a recording of the visit, seem to include a large flat-screen TV — the top judge was considerably irked. He immediately ordered that Jatoi be transferred to a death row cell and instructed the IG Prisons to submit a report on why he had been given preferential treatment.
According to details available with Dawn, the IG Prisons appeared before the chief justice on Saturday and clarified his position with respect to the matter.
The IG Prisons said that the Landhi Jail superintendent was posted there only a week earlier and was not aware of the matter.
He said the Sindh government was carrying out efforts for the betterment of prisons in the province, and assured that all orders of the top judge were implemented in true letter and spirit.
Later, the registrar office of the apex court advised the Sindh home secretary that the provincial government can reinstate the jail superintendent if it so desires. The jail superintendent was subsequently reinstated to his post on Monday.
The CJP had ordered an inquiry and action against the officials responsible for providing unwarranted facilities to the death row prisoner.
An anti-terrorism court had sentenced Jatoi and his friend Nawab Siraj Ali Talpur to death in June 2013 for killing 20-year-old student Shahzeb Khan on Dec 25, 2012 near his home in Defence Housing Authority, Karachi.
