RAWALPINDI: Incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday thanked Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for releasing thousands of Pakistani prisoners, his counsel quoted him as saying.
His remarks came a day after, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar informed the Senate that the kingdom freed a total of 7,208 Pakistani prisoners between 2019 and 2024.
During the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s visit to Pakistan in February 2019, then prime minister Khan requested for 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 portfolio of deputy prime minister, apprised the upper house of the 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 response, he added that while the policy is being formulated, Pakistan continued to protect its citizens abroad through established international frameworks.
“Our consular officers visit Pakistani nationals, who are in prison or in detention and arrange legal representation for them,” said the foreign minister.
Giving a breakdown of the prisoners released from the Saudi jails, Dar said that 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 ascertain the actual number of prisoners released from foreign jails due to continuous influx of inmates.
Currently, over 23,456 Pakistani nationals were serving jail terms in different countries across the globe, he added.
He further said that there were 12,156 Pakistani nationals 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 prisoners had settled illegally in foreign countries, while other Pakistani nationals imprisoned abroad were held for minor crimes.
Speaking about other matters today, Lawyer Faisal Chaudhary said the PTI founder said that he would continue raising concerns over the 26th Amendment.
Talking to journalists outside Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, the lawyer raised questions over the charges framed against the PTI founder in the GHQ attack case, saying that all the witnesses recorded the same testimonies before the court in the high-profile case.
Last month, the jailed PTI founder was indicted in the GHQ attack case.
Khan’s lawyer was of the view that PTI’s petitions regarding human rights were pending before the Supreme Court, adding that they wanted the constitutional bench to hear their petitions at the earliest.
