Indian attacked twice in Pakistani jail

An Indian prisoner was injured after being attacked by a Pakistani prisoner in a Pakistani jail, a media report said on Friday.

Hamid Nehal Ansari was attacked twice in the Peshawar Central Prison in the last two months, Dawn online quoted his lawyer as telling a court on Thursday. The lawyer said a jail official also daily thrashed Ansari.

Jail Superintendent Masoodur Rehman, however, argued that the injuries were of minor nature and that such incidents "kept happening" in prisons.

Ansari, serving a three-year term, is kept in a death cell. Rehman said the Indian "can't be kept in a normal barrack with other prisoners for the sake of his security".

The lawyer said he wanted security for his client but the jail official had refused to give such a guarantee.

The official had promised to shift Ansari to a hospital after the attack but did not do so. The lawyer also alleged that a prison warder used to beat Ansari daily.

Ansari, who reportedly possessed a fake Pakistani identity card, was arrested by intelligence agencies in Kohat district in November 2012. He was convicted by a military court in February this year.

--IANS

py/mr