Pakistan seeks India’s response on killing of its prisoner Shakir Ullah in Jaipur jail

Expressing its concern over the killing of its prisoner by Indian inmates in the Jaipur jail, Pakistan on Wednesday sought a response from India. According to police in Jaipur, 50-year-old Shakir Ullah, a Pakistani national belonging to the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) who was lodged in the Jaipur Central Jail, was allegedly killed Wednesday in a brawl with other prisoners. 

The prisoners fought over the volume of a television set and hit the inmate from Sialkot in Pakistan's Punjab with a large stone, they said.

"Pakistan is gravely concerned at media reports regarding the brutal killing of a Pakistani Prisoner, Mr. Shakir Ullah, imprisoned in Jaipur Central Jail. He was beaten to death by a group of Indian inmates in retaliation of the Pulwama incident. Our High Commission in New Delhi has officially raised the issue with the Indian authorities requesting them to urgently authenticate the report and awaits a response.
Meanwhile, we call upon the Indian Government to fulfill its obligations and ensure provision of foolproof security to all Pakistani inmates / prisoners in Indian Jails and Pakistani visitors to India," said Pakistan's Foreign Office (FO) in a statement.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan Director General of Police Kapil Garg said the matter will be investigated by a judicial magistrate and also by the police.

Shakir Ullah was lodged in the jail's special cell since 2011 and was serving life sentence under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Earlier, he and seven others were held in a Punjab jail, accused of radicalising young people. In 2017, the LeT operative was sentenced to imprisonment for life. The killing in Jaipur prison comes amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan after the Pulwama terror attack in which a car bomb killed 40 CRPF personnel.