Islamabad High Court has formed a commission to investigate into human rights violations and lack of medical assistance to ailing prisoners in the country’s jails.

The verdict was given by Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah, on a complaint filed by a prisoner, Khadim Hussain, incarcerated at Adiala Jail.

The commission, headed by Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, will also probe into the government’s failure to fulfill its obligations and enforce the Prison Rules and the Code of Criminal Procedure regarding inmates suffering from illness.

The commission will include, secretaries of interior and health ministries, Chief Secretaries of the four provinces, former chairperson of Human Rights Commission, Zohra Yousaf, journalist Ghazi Shahabuddin, Supreme Court lawyer and philanthropist Zia Awan and former FIA director General Tariq Khosa. The human rights secretary will serve as the commission’s secretary.

The commission will investigate human rights violations in the prisons and lack of medical assistance and obstacles in access to a court of law of prisoners who do not have means or assistance in this regard.