Islamabad: A bomb-proof prison is being planned in Pakistan`s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province after the outlawed Taliban freed hundreds of prisoners in two spectacular jailbreaks in the militancy-hit region.
The new jail will be fitted with the latest telecommunication gadgets and designed to hold dangerous prisoners.
"It is going to be a prison comparable with any modern jail anywhere in the world," Shiraz Paracha, spokesman for the provincial chief minister, said today.
"We want to end such attacks on jails to free inmates," he said.
Hundreds of militants stormed a prison in Dera Ismail Khan city in July and freed over 240 prisoners including more than 25 hardcore militants.
In a similar attack on Bannu jail last year, Taliban freed dozens of their comrades, including Adnan Rashid, a former air force personnel on death row for masterminding an attempt on former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in 2003.
Rashid is now chief of a special Taliban group formed to carry out jailbreaks in a systematic way.
The government`s plan to build the modern incarceration infrastructure will take about four years.
Pakistan`s existing jails were mostly built in the British era and are incapable of withstanding attacks with modern weapons like the rockets that were used by Taliban in recent jailbreaks.
According to officials, around 4,000 members of militant groups are being held in jail, mostly in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
PTI
