RAWALPINDI: Jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday expressed gratitude to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the release of thousands of Pakistani prisoners, his lawyer said, quoting his remarks.
His remarks came a day after Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar informed the Senate that the kingdom had 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, Khan demanded the release of Pakistani prisoners. Days after this 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, informed the upper house of parliament that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was formulating a comprehensive consular policy through consultations with stakeholders for Pakistanis imprisoned in prisons foreign.
In a written response, he added that while the policy was being developed, Pakistan continued to protect its citizens abroad through established international frameworks.
“Our consular officers visit Pakistani nationals who are in prison or detention and arrange legal representation for them,” the foreign minister said.
Giving the details of prisoners released from Saudi prisons, 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 determine the actual number of prisoners released of foreign prisons due to a continuous influx of prisoners.
Currently, more than 23,456 Pakistani nationals are serving prison terms in different countries across the world, he added.
He further said that there were 12,156 Pakistani nationals in Saudi prisons, 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 nationals imprisoned abroad were detained for minor crimes.
Speaking on other issues today, lawyer Faisal Chaudhary said the PTI founder said he would continue to raise concerns over the 26th Amendment.
Speaking to reporters outside Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, the lawyer raised questions over the charges against the PTI founder in the GHQ attack case, saying all the witnesses recorded the same testimonies in court in this high-profile case.
Last month, the jailed PTI founder was charged in the GHQ attack case.
Khan’s lawyer was of the view that PTI’s human rights petitions were pending in the Supreme Court, adding that they wanted the constitutional bench to hear their petitions at the earliest.
