MT News Service
Jammu, March 11:
A new high-security jail will be built in the hilly area of Kathua just to keep terrorists imprisoned in Jammu and Kashmir.
For this all the necessary formalities have been completed. The proposed jail will be built in Dambar of Mahanpur, a hilly area of ​​Kathua district.
For this, 150 kanals (19 acres) of land has been identified and transferred to the prison department. This will be the first jail in Jammu and Kashmir to be built keeping in mind the terrorists and separatists only in the last 34 years.
However, after the arrest of hard-line terrorists, separatists and other anti-national elements will no longer have to be sent to jails in other states.
Sources disclosed that many dreaded terrorists and separatists and notorious miscreants caught in Jammu and Kashmir often have to be shifted to jails in Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana for security.
Even at present, about 200 prisoners caught in terrorist and anti-national activities in Jammu and Kashmir are lodged in jails of other states. Most of these are in Delhi itself.
After this, Agra jail has the highest number of Kashmiri prisoners. Yasin Malik, Chief Commander of terrorist organization Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, Bitta Karate, Chairman of Jammu Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party Shabbir Shah, Naeem Khan of National Front, Akbar Ayaz Butt of Hurriyat Conference, Shahid-ul-Islam, son-in-law of radical Syed Ali Shah Geelani Altaf Shah alias Fantosh,
two sons of Hizbul Mujahideen’s chief commander, Muslim Conference chairman Masarat Alam, Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Asiya Andrabi and her deputy Fahmida Sofi, including many well-known separatists and terrorists are currently lodged in Tihar Jail. Former MLA Engineer Rashid, arrested in connection with terror funding, is also in Tihar.
There are 14 jails in the state including Kot Bhalwal in Jammu, Hiranagar in Kathua and Srinagar Central Jail. The terrorists lodged in Kot Bhalwal and Srinagar Central Jail has tried to escape from jail several times. There have been two such major incidents in Kot Bhalwal.
State jails have more prisoners than their capacity. Only 3860 prisoners can be kept in the jails of the state, but about 4700 prisoners are lodged in them. Apart from this, Hiranagar Jail has been made a holding center. Hiranagar and Kot Bhalwal jails are not far from the international border.
The jail in Srinagar is also in a populated area. Mobile phones and SIM cards are easily accessible to the terrorists lodged in these jails. Jaish-e-Mohammed once also sent a terrorist squad from Pakistan for the suicide attack on Kot Bhalwal Jail.
Sources said that the need for a big jail with high security was felt for a long time and added that the Dambar area of ​​Mahanpur has been selected on the basis of consultations with the security agencies. It is situated in the middle of a mountainous area, away from the international border.
The movement of common people in this area is also less. The geographical conditions of this area are also such that even supporters of terrorists and separatists sitting in the country and abroad will not be able to make contact through internet media or radio to the prisoners lodged in this proposed jail.
State-of-the-art jammers will be installed in the proposed jail. There will be a transparent wall between the visitor and the prisoner in the jail. There will also be a special chamber for hearing inside the jail.
