Nawaz’s foreign visits from 2013-17 cost Rs1.013 bn, Senate told

ISLAMABAD: The Senate was informed Wednesday that from 2013 to 2017, ex-premier Mian Nawaz Sharif made 64 foreign visits which cost Rs1.013 billion. Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, during the question hour, said that in 2013, Nawaz Sharif undertook 10 visits, 11 in 2014, 22 in 2015, 12 in 2016 and nine in 2017.

The PTI’s Azam Swati had asked the question. To another question by Senator Samina Saeed of the PTI, the minister said that as many as 66 Pakistanis were executed in Saudi Arabia since January 16, 2013, including eight in 2018. “Main crimes committed by such individuals are drug-related crimes, rape and murder,” he explained.

Khawaja Asif said Pakistani missions in Saudi Arabia provided consular access to all the prisoners in Saudi jails. However, he noted that the legal services provided by these missions are limited to translation, facilitation in preparation of cases and persuasion with various agencies.

“There are 1,357 and 1,580 Pakistani prisoners in Riyadh and Jeddah regions respectively. The main charges against them are drugs related, bringing unprescribed tranquiliser drugs, theft, forgery, immoral crimes, murder, rape and brawl,” the minister said.

He promised to consider appointment of some lawyers in Jeddah and Riyadh for legal assistance to Pakistanis. This proposal was floated by Senator Swati, as the minister said that there was not much the government could do, keeping in view the local laws there notwithstanding the fact that there were entire families detained. “There is not much space in their system for us to assist Pakistanis,” he noted.

“Pakistan is ranked at 54th position amongst 84 countries with high prevalence of tobacco smoking and in Pakistan almost 24 million (19.1 per cent) adults currently use tobacco in any form. That accounts for 15.6 million adults, who currently smoke tobacco and another 9.6 million adults, who use smokeless tobacco. Moreover, 5,000 Pakistanis are admitted to hospitals every day because of diseases caused by tobacco use (Pakistan Health Education Survey, 1999),” Minister for National Health Services and Regulations Saira Afzal Tarar said in response to a question by the PML-N Senator Nuzhat Sadiq.

The PPP Senator Dr Sikandar Mandhro wondered how much the survey conducted 20 years back was relevant and helpful. The minister said that there would be a good news on carrying out surveys, as there would be significant allocations in the budget for this purpose.

The minister proposed that in order to send a positive message, the Parliament should be made tobacco-free, saying that the number of tobacco users was going up and these included a big number of kids over five years of age.

She said that tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health issue in the world and one of the top killers globally while Pakistan is ranked fifth in the list of high burden countries after India, China, Indonesia and Philippines. She added that the prime minister would declare emergency regarding the issue tomorrow (Friday) while provinces had prepared their PC-I on this matter.

Khawaja Asif, in response to a supplementary question by the PPP’s Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, said that Musharraf could exactly tell how many Pakistanis were still languishing in Guantanamo Bay prison, as he had sold them and mentioned it in his book. However, he said that still there were four Pakistanis there after Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani added that one, who belonged to Chaghi district, had been freed and he has returned.