Mirpur Central Jail Holds Friday Prayers for Prisoners for First Time in AJK HistoryMirpur

The prayer was arranged through the special efforts of Senior Superintendent Jail Fazlur Rehman Abbasi and Deputy Superintendent Jail Raja Haseeb Amjad, according to the report. The two senior jail officers oversaw the arrangement inside the prison, which the administration described as a commendable step.

After the prayer, the prisoners were addressed on the teachings of Islam, the importance of prayer, moral training, the rights of fellow human beings, patience, repentance and self-reform, the report said. The talk covered the value of regular prayer in daily life, the duty of treating others fairly and honouring their rights, and the need for patience and endurance in difficult circumstances.

The prisoners were also encouraged to reflect on repentance and self-reform, and to use their time in prison to improve themselves, according to the account of the session. The lecture was presented as part of a broader effort to combine custody with guidance, so that prisoners leave with a better understanding of their responsibilities as individuals and citizens.

The session was aimed at raising religious awareness among the prisoners, supporting their moral and spiritual training, and encouraging them to become better human beings and responsible citizens, according to the jail administration. The administration said the purpose of the gathering was not only the prayer itself, but the teaching and reflection that followed it.

The administration described the step as an important one for the religious, moral and reformative training of prisoners, and said the organised Friday prayer at Central Jail Mirpur was being seen as the beginning of a positive tradition. It said the initiative showed that the jail was paying attention to the reform and character-building of those in its care, alongside its routine responsibilities.

Such an arrangement for Friday prayers and a reform lecture for prisoners had not been made before in any jail in Azad Kashmir, the report said, calling it a new and noteworthy development in the region’s prison history. The report did not say whether the Friday prayer gathering will now be held every week at the jail.