ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday appreciated the Saudi authorities for releasing 2,080 Pakistani prisoners who were languishing in different jails in the Kingdom for crimes like forgery, theft, bribery and illegal bordering crossing.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the release of about 2,100 Pakistani prisoners during a high-profile visit to Islamabad in February last year. Subsequently, the mutual cooperation between relevant authorities of both countries led to the release of Pakistani prisoners as promised by the crown prince, officials say.
“We have been getting excellent cooperation from the Saudi authorities and hope that our remaining prisoners will also be released soon,” Sayed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Overseas Pakistanis, told Arab News on Wednesday.
He said that Pakistan had managed to get a significant number of prisoners released from the Kingdom and this became “possible only due to the excellent bilateral relationship between both the brotherly countries.”
Bukhari said that a total of 3,284 Pakistani prisoners were in Saudi jailed – 1,859 of them were under the consular jurisdiction of the Pakistan Embassy in Riyadh and 1,425 under the Consulate General in Jeddah.
Official statistics show the government succeeded in getting 2,559 Pakistani prisoners freed out of a total of 6,880 imprisoned in Gulf countries, including 1,200 in the United Arab Emirates, 55 in Oman, 18 in Kuwait, 17 in Bahrain, 14 in Qatar and 10 in Iraq during the last year.
Most Pakistanis find themselves in detention in the Gulf for forgery, drug trafficking, illegal border crossing, theft, and bribery. A majority of those released had been sentenced to five or less than five years in prison.
Pakistan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday informed the Senate that a total of 2,080 Pakistani prisoners jailed in Saudi Arabia had been released so far. He said that the number of Pakistani prisoners in Saudi jails kept changing due to the inflow and outflow of prisoners.
The minister said that the Pakistani mission in Saudi Arabia would periodically update the prisoner data after receiving information from the host government.
Qureshi informed the house that prisoners in Saudi Arabia were released upon completion of their sentences, as a result of royal clemency and normal pardon procedure in every Ramadan.
In cases where punitive measures include payment of fines/accidental diyats, many prisoners remain in custody due to non-payment of fines even after the completion of their sentences, he said.
The minister said the Pakistani mission in Saudi Arabia was taking different measures to ensure the release of prisoners, including the process of clemency requests with the Royal Court, visiting courts and meeting with the authorities to expedite delayed cases of release.
Bukhari, however, said that a “cogent mechanism” had been developed with the help of Saudi authorities to maintain a database of all Pakistani prisoners and convey all the latest updates to their families as well.
“Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia and other countries are our assets, and we are doing our best to take care of them,” Bukhari added.
