Govt helps release 2, 612 prisoners languishing in foreign prisons

Islamabad : The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, during its first year, has helped release of around 2,612 Pakistani prisoners, languishing in the Middle East countries’ prisons on petty crimes, by extending financial and legal assistance.

When the PTI government came into power, there were some 6,880 Pakistanis serving various jail terms in seven countries of the Middle East and now after the passage of one year, it has made sure the release of 2,612 which constitutes over 37 per cent of the total prisoners, the official sources told APP.

Sharing details, he said 1,245 were got released from Saudi Arabia, 1,200 from the United Arab Emirates, 67 from Qatar, 55 from Oman, 18 from Kuwait , 17 from Bahrain and 10 from Iraq.

They said it was the first time in Pakistan’s history that a government was protecting its citizens overseas and giving them due ownership pledged by Prime Minister Imran Khan before coming into the power.

Giving credit to the prime minister for release of such a large number of prisoners from foreign jails in such short span of time, the sources said the prime minister had instructed all the departments concerned to facilitate overseas Pakistanis in all possible ways.

To a query, they said the overseas ministry had arranged the repatriation of 320 passengers from Malaysia stranded in camps, 1,600 passengers from Thailand who were stuck up there due to airspace closure in recent past, 28 drivers from Iraq and more than five trafficked children to Middle East for immoral purposes.