Lahore, July 26: A violent hostage-taking incident at a maximum security prison in eastern Pakistan left three hostages - all of them judges - dead, and prompted authorities today to fire 10 prison workers.
A police commando raid ended the six-hour standoff yesterday at Sialkot jail, some 100 kilometers northeast of lahore. Three judges and five of their inmate captors died in the raid. Two other judges survived the raid unharmed, along with 50 female prisoners. The judges had come to inspect the rundown jail, which was built for 1,800 prisoners but currently holds 2,700.
The jail superintendent and nine other prison workers were dismissed on negligence charges for allowing the prisoners to sneak in weapons, Punjab Provincial Prison Director Sarfraz Ahmed Mufti told agencies.
The prisoners initially captured nine judges, but freed four early in the hostage-taking to convey their demands to officials.

The prisoners had demanded a bus, weapons and a guarantee of safe passage elsewhere.

``We tried our best to rescue the hostages, but action became inevitable when prisoners killed a judge, and warned they would kill others,'' Mufti said.

``It was not possible for the government to accept their demands,'' he said.

Hostage-takers' relatives were recruited to try to end the standoff peacefully, said police official Malik Iqbal said.

``But they refused to free the hostages even on the request of their family members,'' Iqbal said.

Human rights activists said Pakistan's overcrowded, unwieldy prison system needs an overhaul.

Bureau Report.