Tension along LoC: 14 Pakistani prisoners segregated from Indians in Kolkata
KOLKATA: In a direct fallout of the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan on the Jammu and Kashmir frontier and the recent killing of a 50-year-old Pakistani inmate in Jaipur Central Prison in Rajasthan, 14 Pakistani inmates accused in high-profile terror cases in West Bengal have been segregated from Indian inmates and lodged in high-security cells in Presidency and Dumdum Correctional Homes in Kolkata.
Speaking to TNIE, West Bengal Prison Minister Ujjal Biswas said, "There are televisions in the prisons in which the inmates watch the developments along the border and we never know what might happen as a result of that. We already saw an incident of a Pakistani inmate being killed in Rajasthan. So, as precautionary measures, some 14 Pakistani inmates accused in several high-profile cases such as American Centre Attack and Khadims' owner kidnapping have been segregated from Indians. Being high-profile convicts, the Pakistani inmates were already lodged in high-security cells."
Of the 14 Pakistani inmates, four are lodged at Presidency Correctional Home and the other 10 are at Dumdum Correctional Home, sources revealed. The high-profile convicts are lodged at three-layered secure cells in the prisons.
The Pakistani inmates will now not be allowed to move out of sensitive zones or to interact with Indian inmates. Also, a close watch is being kept on the prisoners round-the-clock, sources revealed.
Pakistani prisoner Shakarullah was stoned to death by three Indian inmates after a quarrel at Jaipur Central Prison on February 20, six days after the Pulwama suicide attack.
2002 American Centre attack mastermind Aftab Ansari, who was arrested from Dubai the same year with a Pakistani passport and travel documents and deported to India, requested for a transfer to a different cell in Alipore Correctional Home in February last year after allegedly being threatened by another inmate.
However, two smartphones and eight SIM cards were found from the terror operative once close to Jaish-e-Mohammad leader Omar Saeed Sheikh in August last year. West Bengal's first homegrown ISIS recruit Abu Musa had slashed a guard's neck and shouted Jihadi slogans before being overpowered by other guards at Alipore Prison in December 2017.