The North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Finance Department has denied a request from the provincial Home Department asking for approval to hire 21 probation officers.

Sources told Daily Times that the Frontier Home Department had sent a request to the Finance Department asking for approval to appoint 15 male and six female probation officers in the province. But, the Finance Department refused the request on the grounds that the NWFP government had banned the creation of new positions.

Under Probation Rule 22 (3), a female offender may not be placed under the supervision of a male probation officer. Currently, there are only 70 probation officers in the county. Out of them, only two are female and both are posted at Punjab.In Pakistan, there are currently 53 women on probation and 51 of them are in Punjab. The total number of female prisoners in the country is 1,710. In the NWFP, there are only 13 male probation officers and no female probation officers. With a sufficient number of probation officers, the number of women in prisons could be reduced significantly.

The Juvenile Justice System Ordinance (JJSO) stresses quick trials, rehabilitation and non-custodial punishment. Out of a total of 2,766 juvenile offenders in Pakistan, only 196 juvenile are on probation while the rest languish in various jails. Section 10 (3) of the JJSO of 2000 requires that the Juvenile Court release on bail a child arrested for a bailable offence, with or without surety, and that the child be placed under the custody of a probation officer or a suitable person. A child should not under any circumstances be kept in a police station, it says.

Section 16 of the Probation of Offenders Ordinance of 1960 makes it compulsory for the courts to release on probation prisoners recommended by probation officers. Probation allows association with law-abiding friends, productive work with wages, a family and community life, and supervision, guidance, treatment, and rehabilitation by trained social workers, said Arshad Mahmood, deputy national coordinator of the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), a non-government organization working for children’s rights.

“Probation is not the right of any accused, but it’s existence reflects the court’s leniency towards minor and first-time offenders, those who pose no threat to society and those who have already served their possible sentence,” he said. The accused, he said, must remain under the supervision and guidance of probation officers under the completion of their sentence.