MULTAN:Country’s first full fledged library has been set up at district jail Multan, opening a window of knowledge and information to prisoners for their enlightenment.
A number of initiatives were in operation on the orders of Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar for character building of prisoners and establishment of the state-of-the-art library at the district jail was part of the ongoing jail reforms process, said deputy inspector general (DIG) Prisons Multan Region Mohsin Rafiq Chaudhry at a literary gathering organized by jail officials here Thursday in the honour of poets and writers.
There may be some book corners or shelves in some prisons in the country but not an organized library like the one set up Multan prison, the official informed the poets and writers during their visit to the prison library.
The library will open floodgate of beautiful literature to prisoners and jail staff, Chaudhry said adding that initially over 2000 books have been made available including those donated as gift by poets and writers.
“It was an initiative of my predecessor Zaheer Ahmad Virk. Mr. Virk is not here but the plan he initiated would continue to benefit prisoners and jail staff.”
The ceremony was presided over by engineer Abdul Hakeem Malik, the author of “Manshoor ul Quran” and an expert on “Iqbaliyaat” while noted intellectual and legal expert Shahid Raheel was the special guest.
Poets and writers hailed the library initiative and said it should be replicated in other prisons too including women jail Multan. They said that many books were written in jails, including those authored by politicians like their autobiographies.
Superintendent Nazuk Shahzad, besides poets and authors including Qamar Raza Shahzad, Raziuddin Razi, Shakir Hussain Shakir, Syed Zahid Hussain Gardezi, Sajjad Jahanian, Ashar Hassan Kamran, Jahanzeb Dharala, Mian Noor Ul Haq Jhandeer, Amir Shahzad Siddiqui, Amjad Farooq Daha, Qaisar Abbas Sabir, Abdul Mohsin Shaheen, Amjad Bukhari, Iftikhar Ul Hassan and Rafiq Qureshi were present.