RAWALPINDI: Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday expressed gratitude to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman for releasing thousands of Pakistani prisoners, his lawyer quoted him as saying.
His remarks came a day after Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar informed the Senate that the kingdom released a total of 7,208 Pakistani prisoners between 2019 and 2024.
During Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s visit to Pakistan in February 2019, then-Prime Minister Khan requested the release of Pakistani prisoners. Days after the historic visit, the crown prince ordered the release of a large number of Pakistani prisoners.
A day earlier, Dar, who also holds the deputy prime minister’s portfolio, informed the upper house of parliament that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was developing a comprehensive consular policy through stakeholder consultations for Pakistanis imprisoned in foreign jails.
In a written reply, he added that while the policy was being formulated, Pakistan continued to protect its citizens abroad through established international frameworks.
“Our consular officials visit Pakistani citizens who are in prison or detention and arrange legal representation for them,” the Foreign Minister said.
Breaking down prisoners released from Saudi prisons, Dar said 545 inmates were released in 2019, 892 in 2020, 916 in 2021, 1,331 in 2022, 1,394 in 2023 and 2,130 in 2024. Dar further informed the house that it was difficult to determine the actual number of prisoners released from abroad. prisons due to the continuous influx of inmates.
Currently, more than 23,456 Pakistani citizens are serving jail terms in different countries of the world, he added.
He further said that there were 12,156 Pakistani citizens in Saudi jails, 5,292 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 811 in Greece and 338 in Qatar. It is pertinent to mention that most of the prisoners had settled illegally in foreign countries, while other Pakistani citizens imprisoned abroad were held for minor crimes.
Speaking on other matters today, lawyer Faisal Chaudhary said the PTI founder had said he would continue to raise concerns about the 26th Amendment.
Speaking to reporters outside Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, the lawyer raised questions about the charges leveled against the PTI founder in the headquarters attack case, saying that all the witnesses recorded the same testimonies before the court in the case. high profile.
Last month, the jailed PTI founder was charged in the headquarters attack case.
Khan’s lawyer opined that the PTI’s petitions on human rights were pending before the Supreme Court and added that they wanted the constitutional court to hear their petitions at the earliest.
