11,803 Pakistanis in foreign jails, court told

LAHORE: A report submitted by interior ministry to the Lahore High Court has revealed that there are 11,803 prisoners in foreign jails out of a total of 8,820,518 overseas Pakistanis living in different countries.

The report stated that the statistics of the overseas Pakistanis jailed abroad had been obtained from the ministry of foreign affairs in light of a direction issued by the court. It said the ministry of interior has also moved a summary to finance division for a supplementary grant of $35,000 to make arrangements for repatriation of Pakistani citizens imprisoned abroad. However, it stated that the process required sufficient time for completion as departments of different countries involve in it.

The interior ministry sought a considerable time from the court to process the matter with relevant countries through ministry of the foreign affairs. The ministry further revealed that in light of Supreme Court’s direction processing of “Transfer of Offenders” agreement with 20 countries has been initiated. The countries include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, China, Russia, Qatar, Bahrain, Malaysia, Ireland, Yemen, Afghanistan, Maldives, Korea, Jordan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Cyprus, Seychelles, Kirghizstan and Nigeria.

As per the report, 2,937 Pakistanis are jailed in Saudi Arabia, 1,842 in Greece, 582 in India, 177 in Afghanistan, 242 in China, 188 in Iran, and 226 in Malaysia. The court would resume its hearing next week.

A civil society member, Rida Qazi, had filed a petition for jail reforms in the country and government’s assistance to Pakistani citizens jailed abroad.

The petitioner also sought treatment of prisoners according to Pakistan Prisoners Code (Jail Manual) and construction of new jails in the Punjab province.