As many as 4,865 Pakistani, out of a total 5.6 million living abroad, are detained in different jails in various counties across the world. Most of the detainees, 1,579, had been kept in Saudi jails on different charges, a senior representative of Foreign Office told Senate Standing Committee on Interior, presided over by Senator Talha Mehmood.
He said, it was unfortunate that all the Pakistanis detained in Kuwaiti jails were charged for narcotics smuggling or crimes relating to drugs. He said that there were only 304 officials of Ministry of Foreign Affairs in different Pakistani missions providing counsellor access to these prisoners. The Committee expressed concern over insufficient data of innocent Pakistanis detained abroad and directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide complete data of innocent overseas Pakistanis detained in different jails abroad.
Earlier, the Committee discussed the arrest of a Pakistani family in Saudi Arabia on charge of drug smuggling, and expressed its resolve to do utmost efforts for their release. A senior representative of Interior Ministry informed the Committee that Syed Sarwat Hussain Fatimi and his wife Shafia, who concealed narcotics in the slippers of Pakistani family, were Indian nationals and they applied for Pakistan citizenship on January 18, 1989.
He said they were issued Pakistani citizenship certificate after completing all formalities including clearance by the security agencies and approval of competent authority. He said their names had been included in Exit Control List (ECL). He said the intelligence team was continuously working for the arrest of main accused of the incident Haji Abdul Jabbar Tunio and Ibrahim Chandio, and their names had also been placed on ECL.