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.

cremation case: The Lahore High Court on Thursday again sought a report from Lahore commissioner and deputy commissioner for failing to provide place to Hindu community to perform cremation.

As hearing started on Thursday, Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi was told that replies by the respondents have not been filed. On it, the court adjourned hearing of a petition moved by advocate Ishtiaq A Chaudhry. He pleaded that Hindu community living in Lahore are facing acute difficulties in case a person is dead as government official has not built any crematorium to perform rituals. To it, Justice Qureshi remarked the Constitution of Pakistan treated all citizens equally and no one would be discriminated. The court will resume hearing on September 17.

Sarabjeet case: An additional district and session’s court on Thursday adjourned by September 26 hearing of Indian spy Sarabjeet Singh's murder trial.

The case has been adjourned due to health issues of Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Moeen Khokhar. The court is conducting this trial on video link.

Accused Amir Sarfraz and Mudassar Muneer allegedly attacked on Manjeet Singh alias Sarabjeet Singh with bricks and hit at the victim’s head as a result of which he was badly injured and later died. Kot Lakhpat police had registered an FIR under Section 324,353 and 186 of PPC and later 302 was added.

It is pertinent to mention that two prosecution witnesses named Muhammad Anwar constable and Syed Muhammad Younas Bukhari draftsman had got recorded their statements in this case. Muhammad Anwar constable stated that he reached the spot on April 26, 2013 in Central Jail and took into possession blood strained chadar of the deceased, blood stained cap, kettle, one cup, and six tablets of Majoon, personal diary and other articles of the victim. While Syed Muhammad Younas stated that he took rough notes of place of occurrence and prepared scaled stile plan.